Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins dies after being attacked in prison | UK news

Convicted child sex abuser and former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has died after being attacked in prison.

Sources confirmed to the PA news agency that he was attacked with a knife by another prisoner on Saturday morning.

The 48-year-old man was serving a 29-year sentence at HMP Wakefield and had an additional six years on license after admitting a string of sexual offenses, including attempted rape of a baby.

He was arrested on 21 September 2012 when a number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized following the execution of a drugs search warrant at his home in Pontypridd.

West Yorkshire police said homicide detectives and the major investigation team launched an investigation after prison staff reported an attack on a prisoner who was pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire police said: “At 9.39am this morning staff at HMP Wakefield called police to report an assault on a prisoner.

“Emergency services attended and the man was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later. Detectives from the homicide squad and the major investigation team remain at the scene and inquiries are ongoing.”

A Prison Service spokesman said they were unable to comment while police were investigating.

Watkins had previously been stabbed in an incident at the same prison in 2023 and suffered non-life-threatening injuries when he was reportedly taken hostage by three other inmates before being released by prison officers six hours later.

When he was sentenced at Cardiff crown court, the singer was told his sentence would be extended and a judge said his crimes had “plunged to new depths of depravity”.

After being caught using a mobile phone behind bars in 2019, he told the court he had been imprisoned alongside “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, pedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst”.

PA Media contributed to this report