AFP
LONDON-British rocker Ian Watkins of the band Lostprophets was jailed for 35 years Wednesday for a string of child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a baby, as police said investigations were also underway in the United States and Germany. Watkins, 36, who admitted 13 offences at Cardiff Crown Court in Wales last month, had “plumbed new depths of depravity,” his judge said.
The singer, whose band sold millions of albums around the world, plotted the abuse of two children with their own mothers in a series of text and Internet messages. After sexually touching one groupie’s 11-month-old baby son, the heavily-tattooed rocker then tried to have penetrative sex with the child. He also encouraged a second fan to abuse her female child during a webcam chat and secretly stashed child porn videos, some of which he had made himself. Britain’s GCHQ intelligence agency was called in to crack his laptop password, which referenced his perversion.
Judge Roger Royce told Watkins: “Those who have appeared in these courts over many years see a large number of horrific cases. This case, however, breaks new ground.” His two accomplices, known only as Woman A and Woman B to protect the identity of their children, were jailed for 14 years and 17 years respectively.
The singer used his fame and power over “fawning” young female fans to “help satisfy your insatiable lust and take part in the sexual abuse of their own children,” Royce said. Behind his public performances lay “a dark and sinister side,” said Royce. “You are a deeply corrupting influence, you are highly manipulative, you are a sexual predator, you are dangerous.
“The public and, in particular, young females need protection from you. “You spoke of not knowing to what extremes you would have gone but for your arrest. It is difficult to imagine anything much worse.”
The court on Wednesday heard a transcript of a telephone call that Watkins made to a female fan from prison the day after he admitted the crimes, saying he was going to issue a statement after he was sentenced saying it had all been “mega lolz”. Watkins will be released on parole in around 20 years’ time and spend the rest of his sentence on licence, meaning he must adhere to certain conditions or face recall to prison.