Disgraced former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has been killed in prison after another inmate slashed his throat in a savage assault.
The 48-year-old paedophile was ambushed after prisoners were released from their cells this morning at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire, known as Monster Mansion due to its notorious inmates.
Police and paramedics rushed to the high-security facility, but the former rock star, who was serving 35 years for a catalogue of horrific child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a baby, could not be saved.
Watkins represents the most high-profile prisoner to be murdered in a British jail in living memory.
His attacker, who justice sources confirmed has been identified, is understood to have targeted Watkins’s jugular vein, causing him to bleed to death.
A source revealed the killing was brutal even by prison standards, describing how Watkins was specifically targeted by another prisoner who stabbed him in the neck with a homemade blade.
Guards stationed nearby responded rapidly to the incident, but despite their swift intervention, they proved unable to prevent the fatal blood loss.
The insider described a horrific scene with blood scattered throughout the area as alarms and sirens blared across the prison complex.
Emergency services were summoned and the entire facility was placed on immediate lockdown with all inmates confined to their cells. Watkins was airlifted to hospital but medical staff could not save his life.
The source noted Watkins had suffered several assaults during his years at Wakefield, suggesting this fatal attack may have been inevitable given his high profile and the nauseating nature of his crimes.
The assailant deliberately went for Watkins’s jugular in what appeared to be a carefully planned execution rather than a spontaneous confrontation.
Watkins’s notoriety and the revolting offences that landed him behind bars meant he walked around the prison with a metaphorical target on his back, making such an outcome almost predictable.
Despite Watkins’s despicable criminal history, prison staff and fellow inmates were left in absolute shock by the gruesome violence they witnessed.
Many experienced officers and prisoners saw the aftermath of the bloodbath, which traumatised even hardened criminals and veteran guards.
The inmate who carried out the attack used a shank, a crude improvised knife, and was detained almost immediately after the killing. There was little mystery about who had committed the murder.
In August 2023, Watkins was hospitalised following another stabbing incident whilst serving his sentence.
Three fellow prisoners grabbed him during that assault, leaving him with serious neck injuries that required urgent medical attention.
A siege situation developed at the prison, only ending when a specialist Tornado team of riot officers deployed stun grenades into the cell to extract Watkins.
The vile musician, imprisoned for 13 horrific sex offences against children, received life-saving treatment at Leeds General Infirmary following that attack.
That stabbing stemmed from a dispute over guitar lessons combined with resentment about jail visits Watkins received from a younger girlfriend.
Whilst violence remains widespread in UK prisons, actual murders are relatively uncommon.
Recent cases include convicted killer John Mansfield, who died at high-security HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire in April, and Dennis Green, 42, who was fatally attacked at Fosse Way Prison in Leicestershire in August.
Inspectors discovered violence levels at Wakefield had surged by 62 per cent since 2022 in a report published last month.
The inspection found many prisoners were frightened to leave their cells and felt vulnerable around a growing population of younger inmates.
Category A Wakefield, housing 630 prisoners, earned the Monster Mansion nickname because of the numerous high-profile murderers, terrorists and sex offenders it contains.
Past and present inmates include Roy Whiting, who murdered Sarah Payne, Jeremy Bamber, and paedophile killer Mark Bridger.
The facility also holds Al-Qaeda terrorist and police killer Kamel Bourgass, serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga, and child killer Mick Philpott.
In March, Philpott, aged 69, who killed six of his 17 children in an arson house fire, was left battered and bruised following a beating at Wakefield.
A former Wakefield prisoner faces court proceedings over an alleged assault on killer paedophile Sidney Cooke, 98, Britain’s oldest inmate.
Watkins had three goth groupies who regularly visited him in prison, according to reports from 2017.
The trio made frequent trips to see the disgraced musician, with Watkins spotted holding hands and kissing one of them during visits.
Watkins achieved fame in 2000 with Lostprophets, the Welsh band that went on to sell more than 3.4 million albums globally.
The alternative rock and nu-metal group, founded by Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze in Pontypridd, Wales in 1997, scored four top 10 UK albums.
Their hit singles included Last Train Home, Rooftops and Burn Burn.
Watkins served as the band’s poster boy, attracting a massive cult following.
The rock world was left stunned by his arrest and subsequent trial, where prosecutors described him as a determined and committed paedophile.
Watkins preyed on fans, including two mothers who offered up their babies to be abused by their idol.
In March, bandmate Gaze, aged 50, broke his silence about the Watkins case, writing online that 13 years after the band ended in unimaginable circumstances, the pain remained raw.
Gaze said he had poured everything into the band, which should have lasted a lifetime, describing the outcome as the ultimate punishment despite never wronging anyone.
Watkins was charged in 2012 and sentenced the following year.
The former partner of TV and radio presenter Fearne Cotton was jailed in 2013 after a shocking trial for offences including the attempted rape of a baby.
He changed his plea to guilty at the trial’s start, admitting to trying to rape a fan’s baby and plotting to rape another infant.
Watkins filmed himself committing sex acts on a baby boy the day after Lostprophets’ final album Weapons was released.
The fiend claimed at Cardiff Crown Court he could not remember the sickening attacks because he was a heavy user of crystal meth at the time.
His two co-defendants, fans who were the mothers of victims, received sentences of 14 and 17 years in prison.
In 2014, Watkins was refused the right to appeal against his 35-year sentence.
Lord Justice Christopher Pitchford said his offences were of such shocking depravity that the lengthy sentence was warranted.
The judge said the original trial judge had correctly assessed the seriousness of his offending and that the term was not manifestly unjust.
In 2019, Watkins was convicted of possessing a banned mobile phone in prison, resulting in an additional 10 months being added to his sentence.
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