Former Lostprophets Vocalist Ian Watkins Sentenced to Thirty-Five Years in Prison for Child Sex Crimes

Update, 1:44 PM: The PRP reports that “Explicit and absolutely nauseating details of ex-Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins and his two female co-defendants’ child sex crimes have emerged… via a documentation of the sentencing remarks made by the honorable Mr. Justice Royce” earlier today (details below). I honestly can’t bring myself to read it right now… this whole thing already makes me nauseous. Those who possess a stronger stomach than my own can get the document here.

Following last month’s plea of “guilty” to multiple charges of child sex crimes, former Lostprophets vocalist Ian Watkins has been sentenced to thirty-five years in prison — twenty-nine years with “an extended license of six years” — reports Wales Online. Watkins, who has been on suicide watch since his arrest, will have to serve at least two-thirds of the initial twenty-nine-year sentence before he’s eligible for parole; that would be sometime around 2033, when Watkins, now thirty-six-years-old, is in his mid-fifties. His two female accomplices, at least one of whom was the mother of one of his victims, were sentenced to fourteen and seventeen years in jail, respectively.

Amazingly, the day AFTER he plead guilty, Watkins called a female friend and told her he had made the plea simply to avoid a trial: “It was, like, either me go up there and say ‘Come on, it wasn’t that bad, nobody got hurt’, I do my charm. Or do I end up making things worse for myself? Or do I just say I was off my head and can’t remember?” He continued — and to call this “disturbing” would be a massive, MASSIVE understatement:

“I’m going to put a statement on [December] 18th now just to say it was megalolz, I don’t know what everyone is getting so freaked out about.”

I mean… there are no words. Small comfort: Watkins was visibly shaking when his sentence was handed down. So hopefully now he understands “what everyone is getting so freaked out about.”

Some other unsettling details:

• Watkins’ defense mitigation, according to Wales Online, “was that he was effectively ‘set up’ by fans bombarding him with sexual attention, while his drug use meant he was out of control and couldn’t remember his actions.”
• Watkins injected at least one of his female accomplices with heroin “for his own sexual gratification.”
• He told one of his female accomplices that she could “reap the rewards of your master being kind of a big deal.” When she responded, “You are a big deal,” he replied, “I am and you and your daughter now belong to me.”

We will continue to update this story when/if more information becomes available. In the meantime, Wales Online has been live blogging the sentencing hearing and has many more details.