Lostprophets’ Ian Watkins Says Prison Inmates Extorted Him to Ask His Fans for Money
Ex-Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins, who was jailed in 2013 for several counts of pedophilia, found his name in the headlines again earlier this week when it was revealed he’d been hiding a cell phone in his anus while locked up.
In the trial regarding the phone incident, which began this week, Watkins alleged that he had been forced to conceal it after being threatened by other inmates, while prosecutors made the case that his use of the phone to contact a former lover on the outside demonstrates the phone was willingly his.
According to The Independent [via The PRP], Watkins elaborated on the threats leveled against him by other inmates, saying they promised to cut his throat if he didn’t hide the phone and if he didn’t attempt to get some of Lostprophets’ fans, who still send him fan mail in prison outlining sexual fantasies, to wire money.
Watkins claimed the inmates threatening him were “murderers and handy” and that “You would not want to mess with them,” adding that “their MO is throat cutting” when they don’t get their way. When asked if he would name the inmates, Watkins replied, “No. I like my head on my body.”
Watkins was also asked to supply the inmates with phone numbers of fans that could serve as a revenue stream for them. According to The Independent:
“He said he put some numbers in the phone for the two other prisoners, selecting people he thought would not cooperate or who were abroad and out of harm’s way.
“Asked why he did not tell prison staff, he said there was a rumour the prisoner who owned the phone had an officer bringing him things in from outside.
“’Once you snitch in jail it just brings a world of trouble down on you,’ he added.”
While it’s difficult to imagine a human being undergoing that kind of duress in prison, you may want to remind yourself of the atrocious crimes Watkins committed to end up there in the first place (and additional heinous crimes he continued to perpetrate even after being locked up). No sympathy.
Read more over at The Independent.
