28 June 2024 , 11:01
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A prisoner has claimed that evil former rocker Ian Watkins is paying for protection in HMP Wakefield after being stabbed with a "sharpened toilet brush".
Jonathan Levi and Emma French explained in their book, Inside Wakefield Prison: Life Behind Bars in the Monster Mansion, that rough justice is "particularly likely" to be "meted out" to paedophiles in prison.
Watkins, the former singer of the Welsh rock band Lostprophets, suffered severe but non-life threatening injuries after being taken hostage in 2023. He was beaten and stabbed by three inmates at the "Monster Mansion".
But the convicted sex offender still reportedly has "access to money" and "spends his time" buying both protection and friendships after the attack, which was reportedly over a £900 drugs debt.
A prisoner revealed to the authors: "He is hated by many, but as HMP W is mixed, i.e. VPs and high-level gangsters, drug importers and organised crime, they just take money off him (Watkins) for his safety."
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Watkins still has "many female fans" and "receives letters from a lot of females" (Ian Gavan/Getty Images)They continued: "He has spent thousands on protection. The recent stabbing was a reminder that he needs to pay. He took an amount of spice off a prisoner with a prison value of £150.
"Because it was Watkins, he was told he owed £900. He was high and refused to pay; therefore, he was stabbed in the side using a sharpened toilet brush."
The inmate explained the process behind money exchanges, which are "easily done in prison". An individual first obtains the phone numbers of the friends or family of the person they're paying.
They then give the numbers to their own family over the phone, and the individual's family then contacts the other family and sends the cash via bank transfer.
Watkins, who the prisoner described as a "tall thin male who dyes his thinning hair black" with dye bought from the prison service, claimed the former singer was caught with a phone.
Watkins is currently held at HMP Wakefield, which is dubbed the “Monster Mansion” (PA Archive/Press Association Images)The source said: "He had paid a Liverpool gang member £1,000 to use the phone, and when he got caught with it, he had to pay £5,000. This is fact; I know the guy who lent him the phone. Watkins is on C wing at HMP W.
"His work activity is education. He buys his protection, and his recent stabbing was due to a drugs debt. He is considered vile amongst other offenders (because of his involvement in sexual offences against babies). He pays for protection."
Despite his abhorrent crimes, Watkins still, has "many female fans" and "receives letters from a lot of females".
The disgraced former rocker was jailed in December 2013 for a catalogue of depraved child sex offences, including the attempted rape of a baby.
He was sentenced to 29 years in prison and an additional six years on licence, reports the BBC. According to Levi and French, Watkins could be up for parole in 2031.
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However, they said his freedom depends on a "number of factors", including whether there are any other "incidents" between now and his potential parole date.