Former Lostprophets vocalist Ian Watkins has been back in the news recently amid his ongoing incarceration on child sex-related charges. Watkins was sentenced to 35 years in prison back in 2013, after having plead guilty to 13 sexual offenses, including conspiring to rape a child, sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13, and aiding and abetting a female co-defendant to sexually assault a child under 13.
He also plead guilty to possession of indecent photographs of children, as well as taking indecent photographs of minors back in 2007-2008. He has been serving out his sentence at HMP Wakefield in Wakefield, UK since being sentenced.
Last August it was revealed that Watkins had been hospitalized after being beaten by an inmate in that facility. Initial reports stated that the disgraced musician was allegedly taken hostage by another inmate and was stabbed and beaten before being freed by prison officials.
In a report filed late last month, the Mirror cited an interview with an inmate from the prison, which was conducted by Jonathan Levi and Emma French for their book, ‘Wakefield Prison: Life Behind Bars in the Monster Mansion‘.
Per that interview, Watkins was allegedly stabbed with a sharpened toilet brush in that incident. A prisoner told the aforementioned authors of that attack:
“He is hated by many, but as HMP W is mixed, i.e. VPs and high-level gangsters, drug importers and organised crime, they just take money off him [Watkins] for his safety.
He has spent thousands on protection. The recent stabbing was a reminder that he needs to pay. He took an amount of spice off a prisoner with a prison value of £150.
Because it was Watkins, he was told he owed £900. He was high and refused to pay; therefore, he was stabbed in the side using a sharpened toilet brush.”
Back in 2019, Watkins also made headlines after being caught in the aforementioned prison with a smuggled phone in his anus. The undisclosed prisoner was quoted as telling the authors of that book of that particular incident:
“He had paid a Liverpool gang member £1,000 to use the phone, and when he got caught with it, he had to pay £5,000. This is fact; I know the guy who lent him the phone. Watkins is on C wing at HMP W.
His work activity is education. He buys his protection, and his recent stabbing was due to a drugs debt. He is considered vile amongst other offenders (because of his involvement in sexual offences against babies). He pays for protection.”
