Lostprophets singer convicted of a string of child sex crimes is killed in jail

West Yorkshire Police said they were called to the prison yesterday morning to investigate an assault on a prisoner, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. He is reported to have been attacked with a knife by another inmate.

Watkins was jailed almost 12 years ago for a string of child sex offences, including the attempted rape of a baby.

In his trial at Cardiff crown court, Watkins had pleaded guilty to 13 child sex offences and 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.

His two co-defendants, the mothers of children he abused, were jailed for 14 and 17 years. When he appeared in court for sentencing in 2013 the judge, Mr Justice Royce, said the case had broken "new ground" and “plunged into new depths of depravity”. Watkins, he added, had a “corrupting influence”, and had shown a “complete lack of remorse”.

Watkins’s death will bring renewed focus on the rapid decline of welfare and standards across Britain’s prison estate. Seven people were killed in prisons in England and Wales in the 12 months to December 2024, up from two in 2023, and the highest number since 2015.

Last month a report found that violence at HMP Wakefield had soared, with a 62% rise in incidents and a 72% jump in serious assaults since 2022, leaving many inmates scared to leave their cells.

HM chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said the high-risk prison – which holds 148 category A offenders – is struggling with “significant operational pressures” and “deteriorating infrastructure”.

The Ministry of Justice has responded by promising £40m nationally for security enhancements and a new violence reduction unit. In May last year an inquest heard that there were missed opportunities to intervene in the case of prisoner Paul Fitzgerald, 30, before he murdered paedophile Richard Huckle, who had been serving 22 life sentences at Full Sutton prison in East Yorkshire after admitting the sexual abuse of up to 200 children.

The UK has a larger prison population than any other country in western Europe, and the declining conditions have raised concerns about the security of both prisoners and prison staff for years.

In the 12 months to September 2024 there were 342 assaults per 1,000 prisoners, up 14% from the previous year, with serious assaults also rising, according to MoJ figures. The number of serious assaults on staff was up 22% to 11 per 1,000 prisoners (972 incidents) in the 12 months to September 2024.

Reaching stardom in his 20s, Watkins and his band, formed in 1997, sold millions of albums around the world. Of Lostprophets’ five studio albums, one reached number one in the British charts and there were two top 10 singles.

Watkins’s former fellow band members – Lee Gaze, Mike Lewis, Stuart Richardson and Jamie Oliver – had completed highly profitable tours with Watkins’ company, Goonies Touring, when he was arrested. They were owed thousands of pounds, but have since toured with a new band, No Devotion, after recruiting American lead singer Geoff Rickly.

Photographs by Joey Foley/Getty Images, South Wales Police/PA Wire