Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has died at the age of 48 after he was attacked in prison Saturday, it has been confirmed.
Watkins was serving a 29-year jail term after being convicted of a string of heinous sexual 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 inquiry team have begun an investigation after prison staff were called to an assault on a prisoner on Saturday morning and found Watkins dead at the scene.
The details of the attack are yet to be revealed, but Sky News says he was attacked with a knife, while The Sun claims he had his throat slashed after inmates were unlocked from their cells this morning.
Watkins was previously attacked at the jail in August 2023 by three other prisoners, an incident that left him with neck injuries which required hospital treatment. England’s HMP Wakefield is considered one of the country’s most notorious prisons, and dubbed the “Monster Mansion” as its residents include serial killers, murderers and pedophiles.
Watkins was jailed in December 2013 after admitting a string of horrific sex offenses – including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby; a trial judge later said that the charges against Watkins “plumbed new depths of depravity.” (During trial, it was revealed that the password to 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 given 10 additional months in prison after a mobile phone was found in his possession; he argued that he was forced by other prisoners to hold onto the phone. While fighting the charges, 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, with the Welsh band going on to sell more than 3.4 million albums across the globe with hits such as “Last Train Home” and “Rooftops.” Their last record was 2012’s Weapons, released two months before Watkins’ arrest.