(Ian Watkins: Picture credits: BBC & Rock Revolt)
I've written so many True Crime stories now that I've actually lost count and in each one I have tried my best to share the details in as much of a sensitive way as I could, however, this case right here was always going to be a difficult one to talk about. I'd been putting it off for a while despite the requests because I had researched the case before and read the court documents and what I read in those pages haunts me to this day.
So the day has finally come that I have decided to write about it and most of you from the UK are probably already familiar with this story and some of the sickening details but for those who do not know, I'm hoping you will stick around, grit your teeth and get through it with me. I have to warn you that this post will contain some very disturbing details.
Before I begin, just a reminder that you can find all of my links here
Ian Watkins is a name that may be familiar to a lot of rock fans in the UK and perhaps further afield especially the band name 'Lostprophets', Ian was the lead singer of that band which were formed in the late 1990s in Wales and went on to do well in the charts as well as scooping up a few awards along the way. For the band it seemed that the only way was up. They had thousands of adoring fans and the lead singer, Ian was considered a bit of a heartthrob.
To the outside looking in, Ian (born Ian David Karslake Watkins on the 30th of July 1977 in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales) and the rest of the band members had it all. Ian was often pictured out on the town or at an awards ceremony with a beautiful girl on his arm, some of their devoted fans even had tattoos dedicated to them. They were rockstars, they had made it and were even making waves in the USA. The future couldn't have looked brighter for a bunch of young lads from Wales.
But behind the sold out shows, the endless autograph signings, mountains of money and fan mail, lay a dark and twisted mind that belonged to Ian Watkins. Nobody saw it coming, they didn't see the red flags. Ian always made stupid jokes, sickening jokes, jokes that were too close to the bone at times but people would brush them off. Like in a lot of these rock bands, the more the band became popular, the worse Ian's ego became to the point where he thought he was invincible and could do and say whatever he wanted.
Ian had dark, sick fantasies that he kept hidden from the world, he had everything he wanted, women threw themselves at him, right left and center but it wasn't enough for him. His depravity knew no bounds, he wanted children, babies. It makes me sick to even write this but that's the truth of the situation.
The rest of the band members, friends and family never knew about this demonic side of Ian's personality, he kept it well hidden and with the girlfriends and female fans always at his beck and call, nobody suspected anything sinister.
(Ian Watkins was the frontman for the popular rock group, Lostprophets. Picture credit: Punk News) As time went on and the band's popularity grew, the demon within Ian could not stay under wraps for much longer. Like a lot of paedophiles, they fantasise about children and use sick materials to fantasise but eventually they crave the real thing and Ian couldn't control himself. He was a master manipulator who would seduce starstruck female fans in an attempt to get to their children. Some women were reportedly so obsessed with him that they gave into his demands. Two of his fans helped him create indecent images and not just involving children but animals, Ian was into bestiality too.
He was a self obsessed narcissist who had an addiction to recording himself (as well as other people) having sex, he would take nude pictures of himself and reportedly worked as a prostitute in London when the band fell apart due to the allegations and just before he was sent to prison.
The horrendous catalogue of the sick crimes of Ian Watkins include the following:
- Conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a baby.
- The attempted rape of a child under the age of 13.
- The sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.
- Making and storing indecent images of children.
- Possessing material of a sickening nature which involved an animal.
- He was also caught with a mobile phone in prison,
One of Ian's sick fantasies was to abuse a baby, he told one of the starstruck women ''The good thing about babies is they'll put anything in their mouth''. He also told one of his fans ''If you belong to me, so does your baby'', (these lines have haunted me ever since the first time I read them in the court papers).
Going through the court documents of this case is very difficult, a lot of people cannot get through it, some people cry, some get very angry, some are sick. The details in this case are horrendous and every time you think you've heard or read enough there's more disgusting and vile details, it's very difficult to get through.
When you look at Ian on the stage in a throwback musical performance or see him in an interview, it's hard to believe that this same guy had all this horror deep within him. He was a monster, a nightmare waiting to happen. He felt power over these starstruck fans (who I have to say, were pathetic and just as sick as he was. If you're willing to put your child in harms way for the sake of a sick, twisted rockstar pedophile, then you don't deserve to be a mother and you should be locked up too) and abused that power.
When he was finally exposed he played the innocent man and his fans fell for it. They adored him, he was this good looking, successful young rockstar who was on the posters in their bedrooms and had thousands of girls after him, they couldn't possibly believe those stories about him.
The whole thing was downplayed as two salty fans who were obsessed with Ian and tried to ruin his career but as the evidence piled up and the handcuffs were on, it was clear that heartthrob Ian wasn't the perfect idol that his fans thought he was.
They all listened and watched in horror as the full details of Ian's crimes were exposed and everything was backed up with tapes, pictures and witnesses, there was no way he could be innocent and no way he was going to get out of it.
I think about those fans who adored him, worshipped him, had his name and lyrics tattooed on their arms, what they must have felt. We all know that celebrities are human and they are not perfect, some take drugs, some are womanisers, but to do the things that Ian Watkins did and planned to do, that was beyond anyone's comprehension & worst nightmare.
So, of course with the mountain of evidence against him there was only one place Ian Watkins could go.....straight into a prison cell. He was sentenced to 29 years & 10 months plus 6 years on extended licence. The two starstruck fans who helped him in his depravity were sentenced to 14 and 17 years. He began his sentence in 2013 in what is known as The Monsters Mansion (Wakefield Prison, England) before being transferred to Long Lartin Prison to be nearer his mother who was in poor health.
(Wakefield Prison: The Monsters Mansion, home to many of the world's most dangerous criminals and of course, Ian Watkins. Picture credit: Alamy)
Ian Watkins is now 44 years old, still a young man but a waste of a life and a talent, He claimed he was addicted to filming himself having sex and that it just got out of hand. There's no excuse for what he did and what he is. He's a sick monster and the judge even described him as a ''Committed and organised pedophile and possibly one of the most dangerous sex offenders he had ever seen''
Since Ian has been behind bars things have not been quiet where he has been concerned. He got into trouble for having a mobile phone, strange messages were appearing on his Twitter account reported to be him. He has mountains of fan mail sent to him, a lot of them are from females, some of them are single mothers begging for his attention. He returns flirty, sexual letters back to these women trying to manipulate them into sending him nude pictures of themselves. He's very cocky and arrogant in his letters and obviously still thinks that he is something special when in fact he wouldn't last 5 minutes out in the streets of the UK. Ian has never expressed remorse for his actions, he describes his sickening behaviour as ''Mega Lolz''.
The prison staff have been keeping an eye on the letters he receives and in a few cases the women writing to him have been reported to social services and had their children taken into the care of the state. Like I mentioned earlier, if you're a mother (or anyone for that matter), what the hell are you doing writing to a convicted pedophile? It seems that some people in this world still live in a fantasy, obsessed with their idols and just cannot see through their looks.
A picture emerged online of Ian from behind bars and he still looked every inch the rockstar with his styled hair and tattoos, this added a sickening touch of glamour to the whole thing like Ted Bundy's trial where he looked smart, well educated and charming. Some people had to remind themselves that Ted Bundy was a sick murderer. I never forgot, I'm one of those people that can see past looks and if someone is too charming, too smooth, I become suspicious. It's all in the eyes with these people, if you look at their eyes you will see a darkness that you just can't describe, like there's something sinister about them that you can't quite put your finger on, that's your instincts telling you to stay clear of that individual.
You can probably understand why it's taken me a while to have the nerve to post this horrible case but what this man has done and what he was planning to do should not be ignored or forgotten about. Just because he was a celebrity and had thousands of fans at one point in his life it doesn't take away that this individual is a sick monster.
His former band members got back together with another lead singer and a new name, 'No Devotion'. That was a few years ago and things have been quiet since so I assume they must have broke up. As well as all of the other devastation here, it must have been particularly horrendous for Ian's bandmates to see all of their dreams and success go up in smoke and to find out that the person they considered a close friend, to be this absolute monster.
I would like to thank you for joining me on this post, it must have been a difficult read as much as it was a difficult story for me to write but unfortunately this is the world we live in.
I think about all of the people who've had their lives turned upside down because of Ian Watkins, his fans who believed in him only to find out the horrible truth later on, I think about all of those poor children and animals who were in those images and videos that Ian Watkins and sick people like him, had stored on their computers and phones.
I have a deep hatred for anyone who harms a child (or an animal) and I will never forget the day that a policewoman said to me that she had to deal with all sorts of sick and horrendous cases, even assaults on babies and I was completely horrified and shocked. I was 15 years old at the time and I just couldn't get my head around that and never understood how these horrible things can happen. It makes me what to run out and try and protect every child that I can.
Further Reading & Sources:
- Ian Watkins | Court Documents
- Wakefield Prison | Wikipedia
- Ian Watkins: Article | The Sun
- Ian Watkins | Wikipedia
- Lostprophets | Wikipedia
- Ian Watkins (Documentary)
- Ian Watkins: Article | Examiner Live
- Ian Watkins: Article | Daily Star
- Ian Watkins: News Report | Channel 4
- Ian Watkins: News Article | Mirror
- Ian Watkins: Article | Sky News
I have no sympathy for paedophiles, never have and never will. I would even go so far to say that some sort of death penalty or castration should be in order for individuals like that.
I hope that in this post I have given you the story of Ian Watkins as sensitive as I could. I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you will join me again next Sunday (don't forget that you can find all of my social media links here) for my next case.
UPDATE: Ian Watkins was attacked and held hostage by 3 fellow prisoners on the 5th of August 2023 in Wakefield Prison. Ian had been held hostage by the trio for 6 hours before riot police were able to break up the scene. Ian suffered a brutal beating before being stabbed in the neck. After time spent in hospital, Ian was released and made a full recovery.
UPDATE: On the morning of the of 11th of October 2025, Ian Watkins was stabbed to death at Wakefield Prison. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
If you have come this far in this post, I appreciate you taking the time to check it out as difficult a read as it was. I hope you will join me again in my next post. In the meantime I hope you will join me on my Socials, stay safe until next time x
.webp)
