Ian Watkins, the former lead singer of rock band Lostprophets and a convicted pedophile, was killed in a prison attack in the United Kingdom. He was 48.
Watkins died on Saturday (Oct. 11) after being stabbed by another inmate at HMP Wakefield, a high-security prison in West Yorkshire, according to multiple U.K. news outlets.
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“At 9.39am this morning (Saturday), police were called by staff at HMP Wakefield reporting an assault on a prisoner,” West Yorkshire Police said in a statement, per Reuters. “Emergency services attended and the man was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.”
Although the statement did not name Watkins, Sky News reported that he was attacked with a knife. The Sun claimed his throat was slashed after inmates were released from their cells that morning. Further details about the incident had not yet been revealed at press time.
This was not the first time Watkins was assaulted in prison. In August 2023, he was attacked by three inmates and sustained neck injuries that required medical attention.
Watkins was serving a 29-year sentence following his 2013 conviction on numerous child sex offenses. He pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including the attempted rape of a baby, sexual assault of a 1-year-old, encouraging a fan to abuse her child, and producing child pornography. At sentencing, the judge described Watkins’ actions as having “plumbed new depths of depravity.”
Lostprophets formed in 1997 and achieved success in the 2000s, including a chart-topping U.K. album, Liberation Transmission, in 2006, and a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart with “Last Train Home” in 2004. Their final album, Weapons, was released in 2012, shortly before Watkins’ arrest. The band disbanded shortly afterward.
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