Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins dead at 48 after prison attack

Lostprophets 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 string of heinous sex offenses, including crimes against young children and babies at HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed Watkins’ death and said detectives from the Homicide and Major Investigation Team had launched an investigation after prison staff were called to attack a prisoner on Saturday morning and found Watkins dead at the scene.

Details of the attack have not yet been revealed, but Sky News claims he was attacked with a knife, while The Sun claims his throat was cut after inmates were unlocked from their cells this morning.

Watkins was previously attacked at the prison in August 2023 by three other prisoners, an incident that left him with neck injuries that required hospital treatment. HMP Wakefield, England, is considered one of the country’s most notorious prisons and is nicknamed the “Monster Mansion” because its residents include serial killers, murderers and pedophiles.

Watkins was jailed in December 2013 after admitting to a series of horrific sex offenses including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby; a trial judge later said the charges against Watkins “plumbed new depths of depravity.” (During the trial, it was revealed that the password for 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 home in Pontypridd and seized a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices.

In 2019, Watkins was sentenced to an additional 10 months in prison after a cell phone was found in his possession; he claimed that other prisoners forced him to keep the phone. While fighting the accusations, Watkins refrained from revealing which prisoners 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, the Welsh band has sold over 3.4 million albums worldwide with hits such as “Last Train Home” and “Rooftops”. Their last album dates from 2012 Weaponsreleased two months before Watkins’ arrest.