Ian Watkins
Ian Watkins (July 30th, 1977 - ) is a Welsh singer, musician, and convicted sex offender.
He achieved prominence as a founding member, lead vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Lostprophets. Lostprophets disbanded in 2013 after Watkins was charged with sexual offenses in late 2012. In November 2013, he pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13; these offenses were committed against the infant children of two women who were also convicted. He was subsequently jailed for 29 years and ordered to serve a further six years on extended license.
Villainy
On December 19th, 2012; Watkins was charged with engaging in sexual activity with a one-year-old girl, and with possession of and/or distribution of indecent images of children and "extreme animal pornography", charges which were heard at Cardiff magistrates court. On November 26th, 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. He will be sentenced on December 18th.
Watkins' victims included a baby and he sent an SMS 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 de-encrypt a hidden drive on his laptop, which was then found to contain videos of his abuses.
While in prison, Watkins stole two Taylor Swift songs and distributed them online as his own.