Ex-Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins‘ day in court is soon to arrive as jurors for his trial will be selected from a panel of 22 people at Cardiff Crown Court tomorrow, November 26th. Watkins and two females (aged 24 & 20) stand accused of various counts of child sex charges and appeared in court today, November 25th, as the initial proceedings got underway.
Potential jurors were warned about the graphic nature of the evidence to be presented with Justice Royce offering:
“Often members of the jury have to listen to or view evidence which is very distressing or unpleasant. This is irrespective of the guilt or innocence of the defendant. This case involves allegations of sexual abuse of very young children and will involve the viewing of very graphic material.”
The trial is tentatively expected to conclude by December 20th, though if it runs longer than expected it will resume on January 06th. Watkins has thus far denied all charges.
Watkins was of course arrested late last year and stands accused of 24 different sex offenses. Those charges include two counts of raping an infant child (allegedly around the age of one years old) in April 2012 and aiding and abetting another to sexually assault by penetration another infant child between August and October of the same year. Possession of bestiality is also among the various charges with the oldest of the offenses dating back to 2007.
The two women in the case face similar charges with one, aged 20, having already admitted to sexually touching an infant as well as having taken and distributed indecent images of it. More on today’s proceedings—including some pictures from the court—can be found over at Mirror.co.uk and BBC.co.uk.
