West Yorkshire: Ian Watkins, the 48-year-old former frontman of Welsh rock band Lostprophets, has died after being attacked with a knife inside HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire. Watkins was serving a 29-year sentence in the prison for multiple sexual offences, including crimes against children and babies.
Prison Locked Down After Murder
The attack took place on Saturday morning (October 11), and Watkins was pronounced dead at the scene. West Yorkshire Police confirmed that two men, aged 25 and 43, have been arrested on suspicion of murder. The prison was placed under lockdown following the incident, sources said.
A Prison Service spokesperson said they could not comment while the police investigation is ongoing. Watkins had previously survived a stabbing inside the same prison in 2023, when he was reportedly held hostage by three inmates for several hours before being freed by officers.
Conviction and Crimes
Watkins was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court in December 2013 to 29 years in prison with an additional six years on licence after admitting 13 sexual offences, including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby. He also encouraged another fan to abuse her child during an online chat and kept videos of child sexual abuse, some filmed by himself.
During sentencing, the judge said Watkins’ crimes “plumbed new depths of depravity”. Police described him at the time as a “committed, organised paedophile”.
The singer had gained fame as the lead vocalist of Lostprophets before his arrest in 2012, after police searching his Pontypridd home on a drug warrant seized computers, phones and storage devices containing explicit material.
In 2019, after being caught with a mobile phone in his cell, Watkins told a court he was imprisoned among “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst.”
West Yorkshire Police said enquiries into his death remain ongoing.
