Former LOSTPROPHETS vocalist Ian Watkins has returned to the news amid his ongoing incarceration on child sex-related charges. In 2013, Watkins was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading 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 in sexually assaulting a child under 13.
The Mirror recently reported on a stabbing incident involving Watkins, stating he was injured with a “sharpened toilet brush” and is currently paying other inmates for protection. According to the site, the stabbing was “reportedly over a £900 drugs debt” and, contrary to initial reports, was severe but not life-threatening.
According to Jonathan Levi and Emma French, authors of the book Wakefield Prison: Life Behind Bars in the Monster Mansion, which explores HMP Wakefield where Watkins is currently held, “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.”
In 2019, Watkins made headlines when he was caught in the same prison with a smuggled phone concealed in his anus. A prisoner, whose identity was not disclosed, recounted the incident to the authors of the aforementioned book: “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.”
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