Ian Watkins

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Birth Name: Ian David Karslake Watkins

Age: 47, born 30 July 1977

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Currently Residing In: United Kingdom

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Gay Famous! (153 items)
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Published 11 years, 4 months ago

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born in year 1977 (145 items)
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Published 11 years, 1 month ago

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Description: On 19 December 2012, Watkins was charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a one-year-old girl, and with possession and/or distribution of indecent images of children and "extreme animal pornography", charges which were heard at Cardiff magistrates court. He was remanded in custody as were his two female co-accused. His barrister said Watkins would deny the accusations. On 31 December, he appeared at Cardiff Crown Court via video link from HM Prison Parc in Bridgend, and was remanded in custody until 11 March 2013. The case was adjourned until May, with the trial date set for 15 July. At a hearing on 3 On 19 December 2012, Watkins was charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a one-year-old girl, and with possession and/or distribution of indecent images of children and "extreme animal pornography", charges which were heard at Cardiff magistrates court. He was remanded in custody as were his two female co-accused. His barrister said Watkins would deny the accusations. On 31 December, he appeared at Cardiff Crown Court via video link from HM Prison Parc in Bridgend, and was remanded in custody until 11 March 2013. The case was adjourned until May, with the trial date set for 15 July. At a hearing on 3 June, he denied the charges via a video link.

On 6 June, it was announced that the trial would start on 25 November and was expected to last a month. A previous application for the court venue to be moved outside Wales was denied. On 26 November, Watkins pleaded guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13, but not guilty to rape. This was accepted by the prosecution. He further pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault involving children and six involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal. Watkins' victims included a baby boy, and he sent a text message to the mother of one, saying: "If you belong to me, so does your baby." South Wales Police's investigation into Watkins, codenamed "Operation Globe", required the cooperation of GCHQ to decrypt a hidden drive on his laptop, which was found to contain video of his abuses. On 27 November, the day after his guilty plea had been accepted by the prosecution, Watkins referred to his sex offences as "mega lolz" in a recorded phone call made from HM Prison Parc to a female fan.

A sentencing hearing was held at Cardiff on 18 December 2013. In mitigation, Watkins' barrister, Sally O'Neill QC, said that he had no recollection of the case involving the attempted rape, but had "belatedly realised the gravity of what happened" having developed an "obsession" with videoing himself having sex. Mr Justice Royce sentenced Watkins to 29 years in prison, with eligibility to apply for parole after serving two thirds of his prison term, followed by six years of supervised release. His two co-defendants, mothers of his victims known as "Woman A" and "Woman B", received sentences of 14 and 17 years' imprisonment, respectively. The judge said the case "plunged into new depths of depravity". A senior investigating officer on the case described Watkins as a "committed, organised paedophile" and "potentially the most dangerous sex offender" he had ever seen.

Watkins was transferred from HM Prison Parc, where he had been incarcerated while on remand, to HM Prison Wakefield to begin serving his sentence. He was transferred to HM Prison Long Lartin on 25 January 2014, so that he could be closer to his mother after she had a kidney transplant. He was subsequently transferred to HM Prison Rye Hill. On 9 October 2017, Watkins was accused of grooming a young mother from prison. ... (more)