{"id":77427,"date":"2025-10-13T09:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/77427\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T09:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:44:08","slug":"two-charged-with-murder-of-singer-ian-watkins-in-wakefield-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/77427\/","title":{"rendered":"Two charged with murder of singer Ian Watkins in Wakefield Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WestWest Yorkshire Police<\/p>\n

Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in prison in 2013<\/p>\n

Two men have been charged with the murder of paedophile singer Ian Watkins, who was killed in Wakefield Prison. <\/p>\n

The former Lostprophets frontman, who was serving a 29-year jail sentence, was fatally injured in an incident at the prison just after 09:30 BST on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, have both been charged with murder and will appear before Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Monday morning, West Yorkshire Police said.<\/p>\n

Watkins was jailed in 2013 for a string of child sex offences, including the attempted rape of a baby.<\/p>\n

Watkins, who also faced a further six years on licence if he was ever released, admitted the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13 but pleaded not guilty to rape.<\/p>\n

He also admitted conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal.<\/p>\n

During sentencing, Mr Justice Royce said the case broke “new ground” and “plunged into new depths of depravity”.<\/p>\n

Watkins was previously attacked at Wakefield Prison in 2023<\/a>, although his injuries were not life-threatening on that occasion.<\/p>\n

\"DannyDanny Lawson\/PA<\/p>\n

Police were called to an incident at Wakefield Prison just after 09:30 BST on Saturday<\/p>\n

Formed in Pontypridd in 1997, Lostprophets became one of the UK’s biggest bands, securing 11 top 40 hits and a number one album between 2002 and 2010. <\/p>\n

In a statement released after his conviction, the band’s remaining members said they were “heartbroken, angry, and disgusted” at his crimes, adding that their “hearts go out” to his victims. <\/p>\n

A high-security prison housing some of the UK’s most notorious offenders, Wakefield Prison currently holds more than 600 inmates. <\/p>\n

A report on conditions within the facility, which was published last month, said violence had “increased markedly” since a previous inspection in 2022. <\/p>\n

It also said<\/a> the prison’s “infrastructure was in a poor state”, citing “repeated breakdowns of essential equipment” and “some significant elements of the prison’s perimeter security systems”. <\/p>\n

Among those currently serving time at the prison are believd to be Roy Whiting, who murdered eight year-old Sarah Payne in 2000, and Reynhard Sinaga, who was convicted of 159 sexual offences against 48 men in 2020. <\/p>\n

Both men have reportedly been attacked at the jail in recent years. <\/p>\n

Harold Shipman, Ian Huntley and Piran Ditta Khan<\/a> are also among the former inmates to have served time in Wakefield. <\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Watkins achieved a string of top 40 hits with Lostprophets during the 2000s<\/p>\n

Who was Ian Watkins?<\/p>\n

Watkins was once one of Wales’ most recognisable musicians – the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.<\/p>\n

At the height of their fame, the group sold millions of albums around the world.<\/p>\n

But the group disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors described Watkins as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and power – one who committed crimes “beyond imagination.”<\/p>\n

His trial heard Watkins had used his fame to manipulate and control others, often under the influence of hard drugs, including crystal meth.<\/p>\n

After Watkins was sentenced, Des Mannion, NSPCC national head of service for Wales, said: “Watkins used his status and global fame as a means to manipulate people and sexually abuse children.<\/p>\n

“But we must nevertheless remember that this case isn’t about celebrity, it’s about victims. And those victims are children.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Yorkshire Police Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in prison in 2013 Two men have been charged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-77427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}