Former Lostprophets singer and convicted pedophile Ian Watkins sustained multiple stab wounds after being held hostage by other inmates in the British prison where he is currently serving a 29-year sentence on sex offenses involving young children.
Following the incident, Watkins was hospitalized with injuries the Sky News reported were “not life-threatening.” According to their report, Watkins was taken hostage by three fellow prisoners Saturday morning, leading to a six-hour standoff with corrections officers during which Watkins was repeatedly stabbed and beaten by the inmates.
(The Mirror, however, wrote that Watkins’ injuries are “life-threatening,” with a source telling the British tabloid, “There are fears he could die. If he survives, he’ll have been very lucky.”)
A Prison Service spokesperson said in a statement, “Police are investigating an incident which took place on Saturday at HMP Wakefield. We are unable to comment further while the police investigate.”
Watkins is currently 10 years into a 29-year prison sentence for a litany of heinous sex offenses, including the rape of a child who was under the age of 13, conspiracy to rape a one-year-old baby girl, and possession of child pornography. (During trial, it was revealed that the password to encrypted files on Watkins’ computer was “I FUK KIDZ.”)
He is serving his sentence at England’s HMP Wakefield, one of the country’s most notorious prisons, dubbed the “Monster Mansion” as its residents include serial killers, murderers and pedophiles.
Prior to his convictions, Watkins was the frontman and lyricist of the Welsh alt-metal band Lostprophets, which scored four Top 10 records in the U.K. including 2012’s Weapons, released two months before Watkins’ June 2012 arrest. He was convicted and sentenced in December 2013.
In 2019, Watkins was given 10 additional months in prison after a mobile phone was found in his possession; he argued that he was forced by other prisoners to hold onto the phone. While fighting the charges, Watkins refrained from revealing which prisoners gave him the phone out of fear, saying he was locked up with “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, pedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst.”
From Rolling Stone US
