Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
The 36-year-old, who pleaded guilty to 13 child sex offences last month, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court this afternoon.
Two female co-defendants were also sentenced for various sex offences with ‘Mother A’ being given 14 years in prison and ‘Mother B’ 17 years in prison.
According to
Sky News Justice Royce QC told Watkins and the co-defendants that what they did “plumbs new depths of depravity.” He added that the singer was a “high risk of causing emotional and sexual harm to children and to women.”
Earlier Watkins’ lawyer described her client as a “kind and gentle man.” She told the court: “He was the singer of an extremely successful band that sold millions of records and the focus of considerable attention from fans... It was 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He was bombarded with messages from fans trying to hit on him.”
At first Watkins denied the charges against him but he
then pleaded guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13, but not guilty to rape. He also admitted to considering raping a child, three counts of sexual assault and seven involving indecent images of children. Some of the details were deemed too distressing to report.