26. A Lost Prophet Falls Silent

Ian Watkins, former singer and frontman of the band "Lostprophets", has been killed in prison. Watkins was in the process of serving a 35-year prison term he was sentenced to in 2013. He was convicted of multiple sexual offenses, including sexual assault of children -- some of them as young as infants -- which he pled guilty to. He was also charged with possession of CSAM and other material that involved the sexual abuse of animals.

Watkins' abuse of children was reported as early as 2008, but South Wales Police repeatedly failed to act upon any of these leads. The reports included both sexual abuse and giving cocaine and other drugs to children. His bandmates claim they were unaware of his misconduct, as his relationship with them was strained, and Watkins had requested his own private dressing room away from the other five band members. This was where much of the abuse took place.

Joanne Mjadzelics, a former girlfriend of Watkins, also recalled him possessing graphic images of minors and drug paraphernalia in 2010 -- she made multiple complaints to South Wales Police, but once again, little to no action was taken. That same year, an Australian woman accused Watkins of assaulting her child -- these allegations were also not investigated.

It was in 2009 that his crimes reached the US, when Watkins himself made Mjadzelics aware that he was abusing a 2-year-old child in California while the band was recording in LA. Mjadzelics contacted the child's parents, who also reported him to Welsh authorities.... and bafflingly, again, no investigation was had.

He was eventually arrested 3 times in 2012; the first for drug smuggling, for which he was granted bail, and the second for drug possession and possession of obscene images of a child, for which he was also granted bail. It wasn't until his third arrest in December of 2012 that South Wales Police finally conducted a search of his home -- which revealed a plethora of CSAM stored on his computer.

Watkins' victims included a baby boy, to whose mother he had sent the text message: "If you belong to me, so does your baby." The investigation into his electronics required the assistance of GCHQ to decrypt a hidden drive on his laptop, which contained video evidence of his abuses. The password to the drive was later discovered to read "I FUK KIDZ". 

Watkins was charged with and plead guilty to the following:

--Attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13

--3 counts of sexual assault involving children

--6 counts of taking, making, or possessing indecent images of children

--1 count of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal

On November 27th 2013, just one day after his guilty plea was accepted by the prosecution, Watkins referred to his crimes as "mega lolz" in a recorded phone call to a female fan. On December 18th he was sentenced to 35 years in prison, with the possibility of parole in 2031. 

Two women were also charged alongside him -- the mothers of two of his victims who allowed him to abuse them. The names of these women are unfortunately unknown. They received sentences of 14 and 17 years imprisonment. The judge noted that Watkins had shown "a complete lack of remorse", and a senior investigating officer described him as "a committed, organized pedophile" and "potentially the most dangerous sex offender he had ever seen". In 2014 Watkins filed an appeal to reduce the length of his jail term, which was rejected.

An IPCC (Independant Police Complaints Commission) investigation report published in 2016 stated that 3 detectives from the South Wales police force should face disciplinary action after they failed to act on earlier reports of the abuse. (Sgt Andrew Whelan and two unnamed constables.) One detective was directly quoted in the report saying: "taking action against Watkins would draw huge publicity due to his fame -- Watkins had a number of fans and ex-girlfriends making accusations that, when investigated, were false."

In total, between 2008 and 2012 there were 8 reports and 3 intelligence logs from 6 people, which the force failed to act on. Assistant Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan said: "South Wales Police failed to listen and properly investigate information about Watkins' offending behaviour, for this we are truly sorry." -- However, all 3 of the detectives involved were cleared of misconduct and no further action was taken against them.

If that isn't blood-boiling enough, Mjadzelics actually faced charges for possession of CSAM herself after obtaining more images from Watkins to further prove his crimes to police. Thankfully, the IPCC report cleared her of any misconduct. 

In October of 2017, Watkins was further accused of grooming a 2-year-old's mother from prison through a series of letters. In March of 2018, he was then found with a mobile phone, which he was using to maintain contact with a girlfriend outside the prison. He denied the charge, blaming 3 inmates who he claimed forced him to hide the phone for them -- but he was convicted and sentenced to a further 10 months in prison.

On August 5th 2023, Watkins was taken hostage by 3 inmates and stabbed, but was freed 6 hours later by prison officers who confirmed his injuries were not life-threatening. And lastly, on October 11th 2025, Watkins was attacked and killed by two inmates who slashed his throat. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

West Yorkshire Police arrested two men, aged 25 and 43, on suspicion of murder. A report noted that violence in the prison had recently increased, and that "older sex offenders did not feel safe with the increasing proportion of younger inmates in the facility."

Mjadzelics revealed she is "shocked it took lags so long to kill him."