Two men arrested for murdering paedophile Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins in prison
West Yorkshire Police have confirmed two men have been arrested for murdering Ian Watkins, former singer with rock band Lostprophets and convicted paedophile.
Watkins, who was serving a 35-year sentence for a string of child sex offences, including attempting to rape a baby, was murdered in Wakefield Prison on October 11th.
In a new statement, West Yorkshire Police confirmed they have launched a murder investigation following the death of Watkins, aged 48. They shared, “Officers were called by staff at the prison at 9.39am this morning (Saturday 11 October) to reports of a serious assault on a prisoner. A man aged 48 was found with serious injuries. Despite medical attention he was pronounced dead at the scene. “
The statement continued, “Two men aged 25 and 43 have been arrested on suspicion of murder and are currently in police custody.”
It concluded, “Detectives from the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team are investigating and enquiries remain ongoing.”
While the suspects have been identified and arrested by West Yorkshire Police, they have yet to be named.
According to The Sun, Watkins’ jugular was slashed in an ambush attack, and he died from blood loss. A prison source told the publication: “He was targeted by another inmate who shanked him in the neck.”
Watkins was previously attacked in 2023 when three other inmates held him captive in a cell for six hours. He was stabbed on multiple occasions and given beatings before guards eventually freed him.
Wakefield Prison has recently been under scrutiny after a recently published report claimed that violence in the facility had “increased markedly”.
The report claimed: “Many prisoners told us they felt unsafe, particularly older men convicted of sexual offences who increasingly shared the prison with a growing cohort of younger prisoners.”
The crimes of Ian Watkins
In 2013, the former Lostprophets frontman pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court to 13 child sex offences. He was previously arrested in 2012 for drug possession, which led police to confiscate his computer and find indecent images of children on the device.
During the trial, he admitted to the rape and sexual assault of a child who was under the age of 13. He also admitted to the conspiracy to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing obscene images of children, and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Two co-defendants, who were the mothers of Watkins’ victims, were sentenced to 14 and 17 years in prison.
His sentence was extended by an extra ten months in 2019 after he was found with a mobile phone in prison.
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