Ian Watkins’s Lostprophets bandmate speaks out after paedophile frontman is killed in prison

Ian Watkins’ Lostprophets bandmate has spoken out after the pedophile frontman was murdered in prison.

The 48-year-old rock singer reportedly had his throat slit by a fellow inmate as he left his cells at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire on Saturday morning.

The Welsh musician was jailed for 29 years for a string of child sex crimes, including the attempted rape of a fan’s young daughter.

Emergency services rushed to the prison but he could not be saved. It is said that he died from blood loss.

On Saturday, two men, aged 25 and 43, were arrested on suspicion of murder.

And now his bandmate Lee Gaze has spoken out about the attack on social media platform X. This Sun reports.

The 50-year-old guitarist, who co-founded Lostprophets with Watkins, responded to a fan’s well-wishes late last night: ‘Thanks for the kind words.’

This came just months after the rocker finally revealed his bandmate’s accusation in 2012, and his conviction led to the band’s disbandment a year later.

And now bandmate Lee Gaze (pictured while performing with Lostprophets in 2009) has spoken out about the attack on social media platform X

He wrote of

‘Things could have been very different.’

Formed in Pontypridd, Wales, in 1997, the band have released five studio albums, four of which reached the top 10 in the UK, and have sold millions of albums worldwide.

However, Lostprophets announced that they would part ways a month before Watkins’ sentencing.

A prison van was seen leaving the category A facility in Wakefield where Watkins was imprisoned on Saturday night.

The prison was previously called Monster Mansion due to the incarceration of several high-profile inmates.

These include White House Farm killer Jeremy Bamber and mass murderer Mick Philpott, who set arson to death on his six children.

In 2013, Watkins was sentenced to consecutive terms of 14 and 15 years in prison for sexual intercourse with a child and attempted rape of an 11-month-old baby.

He was also convicted of 11 other offenses at Cardiff Crown Court; These sentences are in addition to his 29-year sentence.

The two defendants, known as Mother A and Mother B, who were the parents of the children he attacked, were also sentenced to 14 and 17 years in prison, respectively.

His former bandmates, who reformed without him as the new band No Devotion after he was imprisoned, thought it was a ‘mistake’ when he was first arrested.

They told the BBC they had distanced themselves from Watkins after forming the new band in 2014, months before the allegations against him began.

Asked whether they knew of the frontman’s indecency at the time, Mr Gaze said: ‘How could you know? How can you know?

‘Who would explain such a thing to five people, including eight children? You don’t do that because they will be killed there.

It wasn’t like, “This happened, let’s run away.” “He was like, ‘We’re sticking together,’ which I think is a very bold statement.”

After his heinous crimes were exposed, the band’s music was pulled from HMV shelves and Rhondda Cynon Taf council removed paving stones engraved with the band’s lyrics.

The guitarist, who co-founded Lostprophets with Watkins (pictured far right, with Watkins, centre, and other members of Lostprophets), responded to a fan wishing them well late last night with a post that read: ‘Thanks for the kind words.’

Watkins (pictured) was jailed for 29 years for a string of child sex crimes, including the attempted rape of a fan’s young daughter.

Watkins’ ex-girlfriend Joanne Mjadzelics, who helped expose the sick pedophile, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and self-harms after being exposed to his disgusting behavior.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail on Saturday, he said: ‘It’s a huge shock, but I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. I was always waiting for this phone call.

‘From the first day he entered prison, he was walking around with a target on his back.

‘I was always afraid of him going out and following me or something, so this was a relief.

‘I wanted him dead for a long time, after everything he did. I’m relieved, I feel like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders.

‘This is the second time someone has slit their throat. I expected this to happen sooner. ‘He was there for almost 13 years.’

Ms Mjadzelics, who has just learned the news, added: ‘The families of the poor victims will be very happy today.

‘He’s gone and they’ll be as relieved as I am. Maybe now a new era of my life will begin.

‘The man I loved never existed. He manipulated me and that man who died in prison today was a stranger to me. ‘I never liked him, he just took on a character.’

While the immoral singer tried to rape a fan’s daughter, he encouraged another to molest his own child in the camera chat.

During the hearing, it was heard that a woman offered her ‘summer child porn’, to which she replied: ‘Yes, baby’.

Christine Laing QC, representing Woman B, also told the court Watkins told her client: ‘You and your daughter belong to me now.’

It is also understood that the jailed sex offender is ‘very tech-savvy’ and that his collection of child abuse images and photographs amounts to 27 terabytes of data.

The scale of the collection dwarfed that of South Wales Police’s own data warehouse, which was five times larger than that of the force, which at the time had 2,862 police officers and 1,631 support staff.

One terabyte can store up to 472 hours of broadcast quality images or approximately 150 hours of HD video.

Eventually, experts from GCHQ, the UK government’s intelligence centre, were brought in to decrypt the encrypted files on his computer.

The debauched singer (photographed holding a doll in 2010) attempted to rape a fan’s daughter and encouraged another to molest his own child in a webcam chat.

Watkins’ ex-girlfriend Joanne Mjadzelics (pictured), who helped expose the sick pedophile, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and self-harms after being exposed to his disgusting behavior

The pedophile vehemently denied the allegations against him before changing his plea to guilty at the last second.

In mitigation, his defense argued that his use of crack cocaine and crystal meth meant he could not remember the ‘productive abuse’.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Doyle said: ‘Clearly this was a man using encryption tools. He was a man who did his best to hide what he was hiding.

‘He went to great lengths to hide his mistake.

‘It takes a while to figure this out and uncover it, but we figured it out, we did it. That’s why we’re here today.’

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said of Saturday’s attack: ‘Detectives have launched a murder investigation following the death of a man at HMP Wakefield.

‘Officers were called at 9.39am this morning to reports of a serious assault on a prisoner by prison staff.

‘A 48-year-old man was found seriously injured. Despite medical intervention, it was determined that the person died at the scene.

‘Two men, aged 25 and 43, were arrested on suspicion of murder and are currently in police custody.

‘Detectives from the Homicide Squad and Major Investigation Team are investigating and investigations are ongoing.’

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘We are aware of an incident at HMP Wakefield this morning.

‘We cannot comment further while the police investigation is ongoing.’