Prisoner accused of murdering paedophile Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins refuses to go away his cell to attend court docket listening to
One of the alleged killers of paedophile Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins refused to leave his cell to attend court today.
Rico ‘Rashid’ Gedel, 25, is one of two men charged with murdering the disgraced rock singer, 48, at HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in October last year.
He was due to appear at Leeds Crown Court today to enter a plea but failed to appear over an arranged video-link.
The hearing was told that Gedel ‘had just refused’ to leave his cell at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire, where he is currently being held.
A prison officer told the hearing: ‘We’ve tried to coach him into attending on two more occasions but he’s just refused.
‘He hasn’t really given an example or a reason as to why.’
Depraved rock singer Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck at the Category-A prison on October 11, where he was serving nearly three decades for a catalogue of child sex offences.
Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins was murdered in jail where he was serving 29 years for child sex offences
Rashid Gedel refused to leave his cell at HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire
Gedel is set to be produced in person at Leeds Crown Court next week where he will be expected to enter a plea to murder.
His co-accused Samuel Dodsworth, 43, pleaded not guilty to Watkins’ murder in November.
He appeared in court by video-link from a segregation unit at HMP Wakefield. Wearing a grey t-shirt, he was hunched forward and kept his arms folded as he followed proceedings.
A provisional two-week trial has been scheduled for May and will be heard by a High Court judge.
Watkins, from Pontypridd, South Wales, was handed consecutive 14-year and 15-year jail terms in 2013 for engaging in sexual activity with a child and the attempted rape of an 11-month-old baby.
The disgraced singer was also convicted of 11 other offences at Cardiff Crown Court, with those sentences running alongside his 29-year term.
Watkins was arrested following the execution of a drugs warrant at his home on September 2012.
His co-accused Samuel Dodsworth, 43, pleaded not guilty to Watkins’ murder in November
His vile crimes came to light when officers seized a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices.
In 2019, he was jailed for 10 months on top of his sentence after being found guilty of possessing a mobile phone in prison.
In August 2023, Watkins survived a knife attack in the neck after being taken hostage by three inmates at HMP Wakefield.
He was believed to have been living on a ‘general’ wing with some of Wakefield’s most dangerous inmates – as opposed to one dedicated to sex offenders.
