Lostprophets' Ian Watkins, convicted paedophile, killed in prison

Ian Watkins, the former frontman of Lostprophets and convicted paedophile, was stabbed to death at a UK prison.

Two men have been arrested in relation to the alleged attack, which occurred at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire on Saturday, October 11. Emergency services were called at the incarceration facility early morning, but Watkins was pronounced dead at the scene.

West Yorkshire Police said in a statement that an investigation is underway following the arrests of two men, aged 25 and 43.

Watkins was 48 years old and was serving a 35-year prison sentence.

What were Ian Watkins’ crimes?

Watkins was initially sentenced to 29 years in prison in 2013, after he pleaded guilty to 13 charges of vile child sex offences, including conspiring to rape an infant. He got six more years added to his sentence in 2019 for smuggling a phone into prison.

Following his arrest and sentencing, the chart-topping Welsh rock band — founded in 1997 and consisting of Lee Gaze, Stuart Richardson, Jamie Oliver, and Mike Lewis — was dismantled.

Ian Watkins songs with Lostprophets

The band was widely successful before Watkins’ crimes were revealed; they sold over 3.5 million albums worldwide and had two top-ten singles — Last Train Home and Rooftops — on the UK Singles Chart.

Earlier this year, Lee Gaze — guitarist and co-founder of the band alongside Watkins — spoke up about the frustration he still feels to this day.

“It’s been 13 years since my band ended in the most unimaginable circumstances and it’s still painful to think about. Things could’ve been so different,” he wrote on X.

“I don’t talk about it much, but I put everything into that band and it should've lasted a lifetime… It is as painful today as it was then. No less.”