Ian Watkins murder trial collapses as two prisoners accused of killing paedophile singer behind bars
Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
The jury in the Ian Watkins murder trial have been discharged for legal reasons.
The Lostprophets frontman was allegedly stabbed to death by Rico Gedel in his cell at high-security HMP Wakefield, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for 13 child sexual offences.
On Friday the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, discharged the jury, telling them: “Very reluctantly, I’m going to discharge you and the case will have to be re-tried.
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“That’s disappointing for you and for everyone.”
Gedel said during the trial that he hated being housed with sex offenders and had threatened to hurt 'any number of paedophiles' if he was not transferred.
The 25-year-old said he chose Watkins largely due to 'proximity', as he had been put in the cell next to him the night before, after being moved from another wing for assaulting three prisoners there.
Gedel said 'part of him' wanted to kill Watkins, but another part did not, adding: “Sometimes what your heart wants is not what your brain wants."
He was accused of killing the paedophile alongside fellow prisoner Samuel Dodsworth after a trial began earlier this month.
Prosecutors told Leeds Crown Court that Gedel stabbed Watkins three times with a makeshift knife, which he then passed to Dodsworth, who threw it in a bin.
Gedel allegedly told Watkins to 'have a good sleep' after attacking him with the knife.
Both Gedel and Dodsworth, 44, had denied the charges of murder and possessing an offensive weapon in prison.
Des Mannion, NSPCC national head of service for Wales, previously said: "Watkins used his status and global fame as a means to manipulate people and sexually abuse children.
"But we must nevertheless remember that this case isn't about celebrity, it's about victims. And those victims are children.
"The effects of these crimes can last a lifetime, and there are many other children - victims of Ian Watkins or others like him - that desperately need our help."
The singer was the subject of a number of attacks during his time behind bars but it was in October last year that a fellow prisoner succeeded in taking his life, after slashing him across the throat with a makeshift knife.
He had previously been rushed to hospital in a life-threatening condition back in 2023 after another stabbing but on this occasion his wounds were fatal, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
James Moorhouse