West Yorkshire Police have arrested two men, aged 25 and 43, on suspicion of murder following the stabbing death of disgraced former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins at HMP Wakefield. The arrests come one day after the 48-year-old was attacked and killed inside the maximum-security prison where he was serving a 29-year sentence for child s*x offenses.
Police confirmed the details of the incident and the ongoing investigation.
The full statement from West Yorkshire Police reads:
“Detectives have launched a murder investigation after the death of a man in HMP Wakefield.”
“Officers were called by staff at the prison at 9.39am this morning (October 11) to reports of a serious assault on a prisoner. A man aged 48 was found with serious injuries. Despite medical attention he was pronounced dead at the scene.”
“Two men aged 25 and 43 have been arrested on suspicion of murder and are currently in police custody.”
The arrests come one day after Watkins was attacked on Saturday morning after inmates were unlocked from their cells. According to a source who spoke to The Sun, Watkins was targeted by another inmate who “sh**ked him in the neck,” slashing his jugular. “Guards were nearby and raced to the scene pretty quickly — but there was nothing they could do, and they could not save him,” the source said.
This was the second violent attack on Watkins during his incarceration. In 2023, he was stabbed and reportedly taken hostage by three other inmates at the same facility before being freed by prison officers.
Watkins was sentenced in 2013 for 13 child s*x offenses after an investigation that began with a dr*g-related arrest led police to discover what was described as “overwhelming evidence that he was a ped**hile” on his computer. His former bandmates in Lostprophets disbanded the group in 2013 before he pleaded guilty and later formed the new band No Devotion. The investigation by the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team is ongoing.
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