Summary

  • Two men are on trial accused of murdering Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins

  • Rashid Gedel and Samuel Dodsworth are charged with murdering Watkins at HMP Wakefield on 11 October last year

  • Watkins, 48, was jailed for 29 years with a further six years on licence for a string of sex offences

  • Prosecutors tell the court some prisoners choose to "take the law into their own hands" for crimes involving children

  • Gedel, 25, and Dodsworth, 44, are standing trial at Leeds Crown Court

Live Reporting

By Steve Jones. Edited by Tom Airey.

  1. HMP Wakefield: Category A high-security prison

    HMP Wakefield wingPA Media

    HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire is one of the UK's 10 Category A high-security prisons.

    Behind razor wire-topped walls, those incarcerated there are deemed to pose the most severe threat to the public, police or national security – with many serving indeterminate or life sentences.

    At the time of its last inspection in 2025, the redbrick jail was being used to hold 630 prisoners, including 148 Category A offenders, with around two-thirds of the inmates convicted of sexual offences.

  2. Watkins stabbed in the neck, inquest told

    Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck, an inquest in October heard.

    The hearing in Wakefield was adjourned pending the completion of the murder trial.

  3. String of sex offences

    Watkins was jailed in December 2013, with a further six years on licence, after admitting a string of sex offences - including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.

    He was arrested following the execution of a drugs warrant at his Pontypridd home on 21 September 2012 when a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized.

    Analysis of the equipment uncovered the full extent of the singer’s crimes.

  4. Two men face trial over murder of Ian Watkins

    Mugshot of Ian Watkins, with greying black hair and a black beardSouth Wales Police

    Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 44, are standing trial charged with murdering paedophile Ian Watkins at HMP Wakefield on October 11 last year.

    Watkins, 48, was serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex offences.

    Gedel and Dodsworth are on trial at Leeds Crown Court.