11 October 2025 , 21:22
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The former Lostprophets singer and convicted child sexual abuser Ian Watkins has died following an attack in prison.
Sources confirmed to the PA news agency that he was attacked with a knife by another inmate on Saturday morning.
The 48-year-old was serving a 29-year prison sentence at HMP Wakefield, with an additional six years on license, after admitting to a series of sex offences, including the attempted rape of a baby.
He was arrested after a drug warrant was executed at his Pontypridd home on September 21, 2012, when numerous computers, mobile phones, and storage devices were seized.
West Yorkshire police reported that detectives from the homicide and major inquiry team are investigating after prison staff reported an assault on a prisoner, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire police said: “At 9:39 am this morning, police received a call from staff at HMP Wakefield regarding an assault on a prisoner.
“Emergency services attended and the man was pronounced dead shortly afterward. Detectives from the homicide and major inquiry team are investigating, and inquiries remain ongoing at the scene.”
A Prison Service spokesperson stated they could not comment while the police investigation is ongoing.
Watkins was previously stabbed in an incident at the same prison in 2023, suffering non-life-threatening injuries after reportedly being taken hostage by three other inmates before being rescued by prison officers six hours later.
When sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, the singer was told he was receiving an extended sentence – and a judge remarked that his crimes “reached new depths of depravity.”
After being caught with a mobile phone in prison in 2019, he told a court that he was incarcerated with “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst.”
Head of Investigations