Lost Prophets Singer Ian Watkins has died aged 48 after being attacked in prison on Saturday, it has been confirmed.
Watkins was serving a 29-year prison sentence after being convicted of a number of serious sexual offensesincluding crimes against young children and infants at HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
West Yorkshire Police confirmed Watkins' death and said detectives from the homicide unit and major investigation team launched an investigation after prison officers were called to an assault on a prisoner on Saturday morning and found Watkins dead at the scene.
Details of the attack have not yet been disclosed, but Sky News says that he was attacked with a knife, while Sun claims his throat was cut after prisoners were released from their cells this morning.
Watkins was previously attacked in prison in August 2023 by three other inmates, causing him to suffer neck injuries that required treatment in hospital. The English prison HMP Wakefield is considered one of the most notorious prisons in the country and is called “Monster Mansion“, since among its inhabitants there are serial killers, murderers and pedophiles.
Watkins was jailed in December 2013 after admitting to a string of horrific sex crimes, including the attempted rape of a fan's child; The trial judge later said the charges against Watkins “sank to new depths of depravity.” (During the trial, it was revealed that the password to the encrypted files on Watkins' computer was “I FUK KIDZ.”)
Watkins was initially arrested in September 2012 after police executed a drugs search warrant at his Pontypridd home and seized a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices.
In 2019, Watkins was given a further 10 months in prison after his mobile phone was found; he claimed that other prisoners forced him to hold onto the phone. Disputing the charges, Watkins refrained from revealing which inmate gave him the phone out of fear, saying he was locked up with “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, pedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst.”
Watkins founded Lostprophets in 2000 and the Welsh band have sold more than 3.4 million albums worldwide with hits such as “Last Train Home” and “Rooftops”. Their last album was in 2012. Weaponreleased two months before Watkins' arrest.
