Source: bbc.co.uk

LOSTPROPHETS singer Ian Watkins has been jailed for 35 years for child sex offences including the attempted rape of a baby.

Watkins, 36, from Pontypridd, pleaded guilty to 13 child sex offences at Cardiff Crown Court in November.

On Wednesday, the court heard he was “deeply deeply sorry” and “belatedly realised the gravity of what happened..

But Mr Justice Royce said the case broke “new ground” and “plunged into new depths of depravity“.

Watkins was sentenced alongside two women, mothers of the abused children, known as Woman A and Woman B, who also pleaded guilty to child abuse charges at a hearing in November.

He admitted the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13 but pleaded not guilty to rape.

He 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.

As the hearing resumed, Mr Justice Royce said the case “plunged into new depths of depravity“.

“Those who have appeared in these courts over many years see here a large number of horrific cases,” he said.

“This case breaks new ground. Any decent person… will experience shock, revulsion and incredulity.”

He added it was a “classic case that the evidence was so overwhelming” there should not be credit given.

The court heard Watkins, according to a psychiatric report, has a need to dominate, to test out his sexual partners

The judge said Watkins had a “corrupting influence”, and had shown a “complete lack of remorse”. He also said Watkins posed a significant risk to the public in particular to women with young children.

He told Woman A: “What you were both doing is both sickening and incomprehensible.

Earlier on Wednesday, the court was told that during the calls made while Watkins was at Parc Prison in Bridgend, he denied being a paedophile and told the caller he only pleaded guilty to avoid a trial.

In the phone call he said: “It was mega lolz. I don’t know what everyone is getting freaked out about.”

But defending barrister Sally O’Neill QC told the court how Watkins “belatedly realised the gravity of what happened” and was “deeply, deeply sorry”.

She said the Lostprophets were an extremely well-known band.

“Ian Watkins was the lead singer and was the focus of constant attention from fans and some would do anything to get it – and keep it,” she told the court.

He developed an “obsession” with filming himself having sex.

Fans used “extraordinary tactics” to get his attention, and the teenagers he filmed himself having sex with were “extremely willing” participants, she added.

She asked for credit for Watkins’s guilty plea to spare the jury and others “an extremely difficult and distressing” trial.

However Mr Justice Royce said she was being “wholly unrealistic” to consider that to be mitigation of his guilty plea.

He called Watkins’ actions “horrific sexual abuse of babies”.

Ms O’Neill said the videos needed to be looked at “in context” of his life and not in isolation.

She said Watkins life changed at the age of 30 when he became addicted to drugs which had played a “significant” part in the offences.

She said Watkins had no memory of the crime involving Woman A and her son, where he admitted to the attempted rape of a baby.

“Because he had no memory he could not believe he had done that,” she said, adding he had now “confronted reality” over what he had done.

Watkins was on 15-minute suicide watch while on remand, the court heard.

Ms O’Neill said the crimes were deeply serious but added: “The baby’s mother was clearly encouraging him.”

The court heard Watkins’s relationship with Woman B initially involved sending hundreds of messages including images of bestiality, before he even knew her name.

Ms O’Neill said: “The involvement and responsibility of these offences is joint and equal and without the mothers would not have taken place.

“It would be hard to say how hard he has fallen… whatever sentence is given, he will be in prison for a large number of years.

“He does not know how he’s going to cope with it.”

Jonathan Fuller QC, defending for Woman A, said she felt genuine remorse and was devastated by what she had done.

“She was a vulnerable girl who allowed herself to be manipulated and corrupted by this co-defendant [who] introduced her to a world of drugs including injecting her with heroin to facilitate his sexual gratification,” he said.

“And ultimately she allowed herself to be taken to a very dark place.”

He told the court she was “no obsessive fan” but “she didn’t know how far she was prepared to go” to secure her relationship with Watkins.

Mr Justice Royce said the planning of the crimes was “chilling”.

Christine Laing QC, defending Woman B, said she was a fan with a personality disorder suffering from post-natal depression.

The court heard she could not believe Watkins could be interested in her and was flattered.

He promised her “a life she could only ever have dreamed of”.

Watkins said to her: “You can reap the rewards of your master…. you and your daughter now belong to me.”

From then on she was “hooked”.

Medical evidence showed the child had not been physically harmed.

Ms Laing said a report said she was clearly remorseful for her behaviour and the loss of her child was her punishment.

Ian Watkins

The rest of the band LOSTPROPHETS have made a statement via their official facebook page following the news (as previously posted) this week of former frontman Ian Watkins‘ admission of child sexual offences:

“Earlier this week, we learned that the allegations of child sexual abuse against Ian were true, and that he would not be contesting them in court. Until then, we found them extremely difficult to believe and had hoped it was all a mistake. Sadly, the true extent of his appalling behaviour is now impossible to deny.

Many of you understandably want to know if we knew what Ian was doing. To be clear: We did not. We knew that Ian was a difficult character. Our personal relationships with him had deteriorated in recent years to a point that working together was a constant, miserable challenge. But despite his battles with drugs, his egotistic behaviour, and the resulting fractures and frustrations within our band, we never imagined him capable of behaviour of the type he has now admitted.

We are heartbroken, angry, and disgusted at what has been revealed. This is something that will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Being in a band has always been a labour of love and a platform to inspire people, not to take advantage of them. It’s still hard to believe this is happening and that someone we were once so close to has destroyed so many lives, lying every step of the way.
Our hearts go out to Ian’s family, the fans and friends he betrayed, and most importantly, the victims of his crimes and others like them. We hope for justice, but also that Ian will truly take responsibility for what he’s done. We would urge any other victims to contact the authorities.

Jamie, Lee, Luke, Mike and Stu”

Source: Blabbermouth.net

Source: dailymail.co.uk

The distraught parents of Ian Watkins have spoken of their horror at their son’s ‘heinous’ crimes against children, comparing him to notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile.

Church minister John Davies, 53, and his wife Elaine, 60, raised Watkins in a Baptist manse in Pontypridd, South Wales, where he was a straight-A pupil and a talented musician.

They were hugely proud of their boy, who achieved a first class honours degree before making a name for himself as a rock singer who refused to drink or do drugs.

But after Watkins became twisted by extreme online pornography, they are now struggling to accept how he could have turned so quickly from a teetotal singer with the world at his feet to a child abusing monster facing years behind bars.

‘This is so hard. It’s overwhelming. It has affected every aspect of our lives,’ Mr Davies told the Daily Mail.

‘It’s the first thing a parent asks themselves – where did we go wrong? What happened? 

‘Ian was loved, cherished, encouraged and nurtured. We did our best. He was a normal happy young lad who grew up in the Valleys in a loving family which had no more problems than anybody else has.

‘I don’t know how this will turn out. I don’t know whether he will be remembered for years to come as somebody infamous and evil – like a sort of Jimmy Savile character. I hope not.

‘I hope something will happen to change that perception of people. Time will tell. We’re going to do our best to support him and hope for the best, that’s all we can do.’ 

Despite the guilt felt by Watkins’s distraught parents, the true blame for his descent into depravity appears to lie with a sudden and intensifying obsession with online pornography.

Female fans invited into Watkins’s inner circle began writing worrying messages on internet message boards. Some had found child porn on his computer and said he talked openly about having sex with children and animals.He had been dating a dominatrix who promoted ‘no boundaries’ parties online, while uploading a series of pictures of him taking part in extreme sex sessions.The formerly teetotal singer, who dated television presenter Fearne Cotton at the height of his fame, had also begun experimenting with  drugs, including crystal meth.

What we now know is he was also grooming female fans with young children so he could convince them to let him abuse their babies.

When his parents heard the charges against him, they were stunned. His mother, who had a kidney transplant two years ago, is in serious ill health, exacerbated by the stress of finding out about his crimes.

‘When the CPS spoke and the clerk read out the allegations, Elaine and I just sat there and our jaws dropped. We could not believe what we were hearing,’ said Mr Davies.

‘It was devastating. We thought, “there must be some mistake here. There must be some reason for this. There’s no way that this is true”.

‘We just left the magistrates’ court in a state of absolute despair and shock.’

Mr Davies said he and his wife, from whom he is now separated, had tried to work out what they could have done wrong.

‘Although no family is perfect, there is nothing we can put our finger on,’ he added.‘This has just horrified all of us.’

Before his decline: Ian Watkins with his mother Elaine. His parents were hugely proud of their boy

Source: bbc.co.uk

Ian Watkins, singer of Welsh rock band LOSTPROPHETS, has pleaded guilty to a series of “depraved” child sex offences including attempted rape of a baby.

He had previously “furiously denied” the allegations.

The 36-year-old from Pontypridd had been due to stand trial at Cardiff Crown Court alongside two women.

Watkins pleaded guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13 but not guilty to rape. This was accepted by the prosecution.

Prosecuting barrister Chris Clee QC told the court: “Ian Watkins was the lead singer in a successful band called the Lostprophets.

“He accepts he was a determined and committed paedophile.”

Watkins also admitted three counts of sexual assault involving children and six involving taking, making possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal.

The evidence against the defendant came from computers, laptops and mobile phones. with some recovered from “cloud” storage.

The court heard that he filmed and kept the episodes of abuse – which took place in various hotels in London and south Wales – that were recovered by police.

Some of the evidence was too extreme and distressing to report.

Referring to two women standing alongside Watkins in the dock, Mr Clee said: “Both women sexually abused their own children and made them available to Watkins for him to abuse.”

The court was told how the abuse of the children by all parties was also evident in text messages.

Watkins sent a text to one of the women saying: “If you belong to me, so does your baby.”

In another exchange with a second woman, she messaged Watkins images of her child saying: “She needs to know mummy and daddy don’t love her.”

Watkins also planned to “teach” the babies how to take drugs, the hearing was told.

The court heard in Oct 2006, Watkins met up in a hotel with a 16-year-old girl from Boston, whom he had met during during a Lostprophets concert.

She dressed in a schoolgirl’s outfit and he filmed their encounter.

In Oct 2008 he filmed himself having sex with another 16-year-old girl, who was also a Lostprophets fan.

One defendant, Woman A, admitted the attempted rape of a baby after denying rape and two charges of sexual assault as well as taking and distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

Woman B pleaded guilty to conspiring to rape a child, three sexual assault charges and four charges of taking, possessing or distributing indecent images.

After hearing legal argument from barristers, Mr Justice Royce called the jury into court and told them: “There will not be a trial in this case. The defendants have all pleaded guilty to nearly all the charges against them. The prosecution does not seek a trial in these circumstances.

“You have been saved from having to watch extremely graphic and distressing material.”

Sally O’Neill, defending Watkins, said the singer was under the care of a psychiatrist.

Lostprophets, who have sold 3.5m albums around the world, were co-founded by the singer in 1997.