Convicted pedophile and former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has been murdered in prison, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for multiple child sex crimes. The former frontman was attacked by another inmate who slit his throat after prisoners were let out of their cells this morning, according to multiple reports.
Emergency services rushed to Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire, but despite their efforts, the convicted sex offender could not be saved. The 48-year-old had been sentenced for over three decades for multiple child sexual offenses, including an attempted rape of a fan's infant daughter. Watkins became one of the most high-profile inmates to be killed inside a UK prison.
Inglorious Death of an Icon
Reports indicate that Watkins died from severe blood loss after his jugular was cut. Authorities confirmed that the person responsible for the attack has been identified. A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police stated: "At 9:39 this morning, police were called by staff at HMP Wakefield reporting an assault on a prisoner."
"Emergency services attended and the man was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. Detectives from the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team are investigating and enquiries remain ongoing at the scene."
A Prison Service spokesperson said: "We are aware of an incident at HMP Wakefield which took place this morning. We are unable to comment further while the police investigate."
In 2013, Watkins pleaded guilty to 13 child sex offenses at Cardiff Crown Court, receiving a sentence of 35 years in prison for a series of child sex offenses. The parents of the children he abused, Mother A and Mother B, two of his co-defendants, were also incarcerated for 14 and 17 years, respectively.
In a webcam chat, the deranged singer encouraged one fan to abuse her own child and attempted to rape another's young girl.
Watkins was given an additional 10 months in prison in 2019 after it was found that he had a cell phone.
He said that other inmates had given him the mobile phone but that he couldn't reveal who, because he was sharing a prison with "murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers—the absolute worst of the worst," and feared for his safety.
Always a Culprit
It is believed that the jailed sex offender was reportedly so "tech-savvy" that his "collection of child abuse footage and videos was 27 terabytes." To put that in perspective, it was five times larger than the entire data storage of South Wales Police. One terabyte alone could hold around 472 high-quality videos or roughly 150 hours of HD footage.
Eventually, experts from the UK government's intelligence agency, GCHQ, were called in to crack the password protecting the encrypted files on his computer.
This wasn't the first time the musician had been attacked in prison.
In August 2023, he was hospitalized after being stabbed in a separate incident, during which three inmates restrained him and inflicted neck injuries. The assault only ended when a team of riot officers stormed the cell, using stun grenades to rescue him.
Watkins was later taken to Leeds General Infirmary, where he received life-saving medical treatment.
The attack reportedly began after a fight over visits from Watkins' alleged younger "girlfriend" and disagreements about guitar lessons.
Back in 2017, it came to light that the convicted pedophile was allowed to have three "groupies" visit him regularly in prison. On one occasion, he was even seen holding hands with and kissing one of them.
