Ian Watkins’ homicide trial collapses and jury discharged after paedo singer’s jail loss of life
The jury in the murder trial of two prisoners accused of killing Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins at HMP Wakefield has been discharged for legal reasons, with a retrial now set to take place
Ian Watkins died after being attacked in jail(Image: South Wales Police/PA Wire)
The jury in the trial of two inmates accused of murdering paedophile Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has been discharged due to legal reasons. The disgraced singer was fatally stabbed by Rico Gedel, 25, in his cell at high-security HMP Wakefield, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for child sexual offences.
Leeds Crown Court heard that after exiting the cell, Gedel handed the makeshift knife to fellow prisoner Samuel Dodsworth, 44, who discarded it in a bin. Both defendants denied murdering Watkins and possessing a knife in prison.
On Friday, the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, discharged the jury, informing them: “Very reluctantly, I’m going to discharge you and the case will have to be re-tried.
“That’s disappointing for you and for everyone.”
Gedel told the trial he detested being housed with sex offenders at Wakefield and had threatened to harm “any number of paedophiles” if he was not transferred.
He said he selected Watkins largely due to “proximity”, as he had been placed in the cell next to him the night before, after being moved from another wing for assaulting three prisoners there.
Gedel stated “part of him” wanted to kill Watkins, but another part did not, adding: “Sometimes what your heart wants is not what your brain wants.”
Prosecutors had argued Gedel and Dodsworth were both guilty of murder because Dodsworth “knew the attack was going to happen” and assisted Gedel by disposing of the knife.
Dodsworth, currently serving a sentence for raping a woman, claimed he had no involvement in the attack and was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He stated that Gedel passed him the knife after coming out of Watkins’ cell, and although he attempted to return it, he ended up discarding it due to panic upon seeing an injured Watkins.
Watkins received a 29-year prison sentence in December 2013, with an additional six years on licence, after confessing to numerous sex offences, including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.
