Ian Watkins, the disgraced former frontman of Welsh rock band Lostprophets who was serving a 35-year jail sentence for child sex offences, has been killed in prison by another inmate, according to British media reports. 

Watkins, 48, was serving his sentence at Wakefield Prison in northern England.

“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. 

Ian Watkins is jailed for 35 years for child sex offences.

Watkins was convicted in 2013 after pleading guilty to 13 charges involving child sex offences. (AFP: South Wales Police)

“Emergency services attended and the man was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.” 

The statement did not name Watkins.

Police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Watkins was convicted in 2013 after pleading guilty to 13 charges. 

He had admitted two attempted rapes, sexually assaulting a child under 13, aiding and abetting the sexual assault of a child under 13, conspiring to rape a child under 13 and conspiring to sexually assault another child under 13.

He had also pleaded guilty to six counts of taking and possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornographic images.

The singer, whose band sold millions of albums around the world, was also taken to the hospital in 2023 after being attacked, with UK media reporting he had been taken hostage by other inmates.

Lostprophets, who formed in 1997 and had a string of gold albums in the United States and platinum albums in Britain, disbanded shortly after charges were made against Watkins.

AFP/Reuters