Scissor Sisters
July 28, 2026
In March 2005, body parts were found in an Irish canal that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the infamous Scissor Sisters.
Ian Watkins
"plumbed new depths of depravity"
In late December 2012, Ian Watkins from lost prophets, the lead singer and frontman of the Welsh rock band was arrested by police in relation to allegations of child sex abuse. The singers home was searched, and officers found a number of indecent images. The resulting court case would go on to reveal the full, horrifying extent of Ian Watkins depraved crimes against young children, something he managed to conceal for many years.
(This case file was originally posted as a True Crime Short on February 26, 2024)
(This case file was originally posted as a full length article on August 6, 2024 and updated on October 10, 2025)
Ian Watkins: The Lostprophets Lead Singer
Born in Merthyr Tydfil on July, 30 1977, Ian David Karslake Watkins moved with his family to Pontypridd, where he attended Hawthorn High School. There, he met one of his future Lostprophet bandmates, Mike Lewis. Watkins went to the University of Wales, Newport, where he graduated with a first-class honours degree in graphic design.
Watkins grew up listening to mostly metal and rock music, along with Lewis, who shared a passion for bands such as Faith No More. Together they formed Aftermath in 1991, however the band never recorded any material. Watkins then met another future bandmate, Lee Gaze, and they decided to form a new band, however this too was a short-lived.
By 1997, Watkins, Lewis and Gaze formed a new bad, Lostprophets, which made its debut in May 1997, with Watkins as the lead vocalist. The band launched their debut album, The Fake Sound of Progress, in 2000. They would go on to release five studio albums between the years 2000 to 2012, earning them millions along with legions of fans.
Ian Watkins: The Misogynist Musician
When on tour with his band, Ian Watkins requested his own private dressing room, separate from the other five band members. It was unknown at the time why he wanted this private space, and only after his crimes came to light, would it become apparent. As a result, his bandmates went on to claim they knew nothing of what went on, citing his heavy drug use as a contributing factor in their strained relations.
Indeed, Watkins used his private dressing room as a place to take female fans, something that many other musical stars have done in the past with adoring fans they wished to entertain. However, what went on inside Watkins dressing room was anything but entertaining. One incident would be shared with the court at his later trial.
In March 2007, he met a 16-year-old Lostprophets fans at one of the bands concerts. The prosecution went on to describe for police what happened. They said the singer was excited at the prospect of taking the young girls virginity, and had her dress up in a schoolgirl’s uniform, and videoed them having oral, vaginal and anal sex.
He asked her whether she enjoyed being his underage slut, and at the end urinated over her face and told her to drink it. This encounter was an insight into how the singer treated young women, and was indicative of his attitude towards those he saw as mere play things. This incident occurred fully five years before Watkins committed his most serious crimes.
Watkins met another fan in August 2008, and videoed this girl, also 16, having oral sex with him. On the video she is seen snorting white powder, which the singer told her was cocaine. It was this taking of hard drugs, intrinsically linked to his sexual activities, that caused him to step further away from his bandmates.
Ian Watkins: Fact Sheet
Ian Watkins and Joanne Mjadzelics
In 2006, a 30-year-old fan contacted Watkins on the Lostprophets’ Myspace account in order to arrange tickets for a gig. Watkins and the fan, Joanne Mjadzelics, started a relationship, one that she later described as quickly turning sordid. She told police that Watkins had talked about getting her pregnant, so that he could rape their baby.
The couple also talked about chid abuse while having sex. In an online chat, revealed to the court at her later trial, Mjadzelics and Watkins discussed topics such as incest, while acting out a fantasy the singer had of them being brother and sister. They also talked about cross dressing, child abuse and the kidnapping of a brother and sister from outside a school, with the intention of killing one and raping the other.
Mjadzelics, from Doncaster in South Yorkshire, said that in September 2007, during the recording of the band’s fourth studio album, The Betrayed, Watkins described to her how he raped a 12-year-old girl in Los Angeles. At Christmas that year, Watkins sent her an indecent photograph of a five-year-old girl posing with cocaine, who the singer described as “super flirty.” Watkins reportedly told her, “You know what little girls are like.”
She recalled how the image sickened her saying, “my heart sank because it made me ill.” As a result of that image, Mjadzelics decided to end her relationship with Watkins. “I was completely confused. I was totally in love with the man, yet he sent me this picture,” she said. “How could I be in love with a man that sends that image?.”
“And he lied,” she recalled, “saying he only got her to pose with the picture as a joke.” Around this same time, Watkins told her that he had also been abusing a two-year-old child in California whilst the band was recording in Los Angeles. Mjadzelics claimed she then went and reported the incidents to South Wales police, however no further action was taken.
She wouldn’t see Watkins again until several times in 2010, where on one occasion he tried to get her to snort heroin, before showing her something on his laptop. She described the video. “The first thing I saw was a child crying and screaming and I saw a video of a young girl being raped. And I looked at him, and I just saw an evil smirk on his face.”
“He was looking for a reaction and all I did was cry and I said he had to go.” Joanne Mjadzelics said she had “never met anyone as sick and depraved as that man,” and that it was then she decided to play Watkins at his own game. She went to police again, this time to tell them about another woman who was allowing her baby to be abused by Ian Watkins from Lostprophets.
She told police the woman was “totally obsessed with Watkins and her baby will be raped by him.” Mjadzelics claimed an officer dismissed her claim, telling her she must have been “really upset,” by her ex-boyfriend. She reportedly told the officer, “I’ll put a bullet in his head to stop his doing it.” As a result, she said police force records labelled her a “nut job.”
Lawyers for Watkins issued Mjadzelics with harassment orders, calling the testimony she gave police as “bullshit.” She took the woman whose baby was being raped by Watkins to the police, but she claimed they ignored her warnings. She said of Watkins, “He was getting off on the fact he was getting away with it,” Mjadzelics said.
As a result of her failed efforts to get Watkins arrested, Joanne Mjadzelics began suffering with her mental health, which caused her to take overdoses in an effort to commit suicide. Eventually she decided to distance herself from Watkins, and even went so far as to put an obituary for herself in the newspaper in an effort to fake her own death.
The Crimes of Ian Watkins and Woman B
In late 2011, Watkins met a 19-year-old woman who would be referred to in court documents as Woman B. The two began communicating regularly, and by March and April 2012, the discussions between them became sinister. By this time, Woman B had a young child, a 10 month old son, and with Watkins she had conversations about committing sexual acts with the infant.
Woman B later told the police she met up with Watkins at the Copthorne Hotel in Cardiff, and on March 21st, he asked her to “Come down this weekend and we can fuck him up again.” In response, Woman B replied offering up her child to Watkins perversions, after previously suggesting getting her son high on “ice” or methyl amphetamine.
The two met up again at the K West Hotel in London on the night of April 2nd-3rd, and there recorded a video. During the recorded, Watkins raped the child, who had been offered up by his mother for the singer to abuse. On the recording she can be heard encouraging Watkins in his actions, taking an active part in her own child’s pain and suffering, and both can be heard on the video to be gaining enjoyment from the act.
On May 24, Woman B messaged Watkins and told him, “the boy is ready to be abused”. A further message from Watkins, sent on August 2nd, read; “to be honest though, I think we have gone easy on him so far. Time to teach him and MAKE him learn to love it”. From these messages, police believe the two met up at The Maldron Hotel in Cardiff, where further abuse occurred. An image sent by Woman B to Watkins on September 9th, showed a grotesque sex act she committed against her own child.
Ian Watkins and Woman P
By August 2012, Watkins starting communicating with a second woman and mother to a young child. This 25-year-old, who was known as Woman P in court documents, told police that not long after they began talking, their conversations turned to child sex abuse. The couple talked of moving in together, and Watkins told Woman P, “if u belong to me so does ur baby”.
In response she told him, “understandable… a mother – daughter slave duo worshipping you”. Watkins replied “that’s all she will know… a life of filth”. They spoke of sexually abusing the young child, and during subsequent communications they planned even more depraved acts, including forcing bestiality with the child, and even the taking of drugs.
Watkins considered the small child as a mere “play-thing,” not as a human being, but a sexual object there for his own pleasure. He said he wanted to get both mother and daughter taking crack cocaine, and talked of “whoring her out to fat old men who would pay thousands.” He even spoke of torturing the small child for fun.
Woman P took intimate photographs of her daughter and sent them to Watkins, and in turn he commented on his intentions with her. On September 12, 2012, Watkins and Woman P had a lengthy skype session, which would prove to be some of the most disturbing and graphic evidence presented at their later trials.
On October 2nd, Woman P took her young daughter to meet up with Watkins at the Travel Lodge in Caerphilly, and also to the Radisson in Cardiff on the October 23rd. It was unknown what happened at these meet ups, and Woman P allegedly lied, claiming she left her child with someone else. However, it is believed she took her baby and together they committed abuse, rape and sexual assault.
Ian Watkins Judges Sentencing Remarks
WARNING: The sentencing remarks, at the trial regarding the crimes of Ian Watkins, contains graphic descriptions of child sexual abuse and rape. Discretion is advised before reading this material.
Ian Watkins and Operation Globe
The Police Investigation to Capture Ian Watkins
The police investigation into the crimes of Ian Watkins had been codenamed “Operation Globe,” which had been set-up after the failures to investigate Watkins and his crimes had been scrutinised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). With multiple opportunities to look into Watkins crimes from the many complaints concerning his crimes of child sexual abuse, a team of 25 officers were assigned to work the case.
Beginning in October 2012, and led by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Doyle, the Operation Globe team worked to uncover the horrific sexual crimes against young children, and included officers from Germany and the USA. The operation also required the co-operation of GCHQ to decrypt a hidden drive on Watkin’s laptop.
Once investigators bypassed the encrypted password to his laptop, they learned it read “I FUK KIDZ,” and his device was found to contain video evidence of his abuses. Among the trove were images he had made himself. DCI Doyle said after the investigation had concluded “This investigation was highly complex and involved a large team working closely with partners including local authorities, NSPCC and Interpol.”
“The team showed moral and professional courage in the face of harrowing and deeply upsetting evidence, which was by far the worst I have come across in my 30 year career. Throughout the investigation the central core of the investigation focussed upon the protection of children and the team never wavered from that goal.”
Several years after the case had concluded, the Operation Globe investigation team was named runner up in the Police Federation National Detective Forum (PFNDF) Detective Investigation of the Year award. DCI Doyle said “They thoroughly deserve the recognition they have received from the Police Federation and I am pleased their hard work, professionalism and dedication has been acknowledged.”
As a result of the investigation, a number of serving officers were under examination by the IPCC in relation to possible delays in bringing Watkins to justice. The roles of as many as eight officers were being looked into, which was part of an IPCC probe that began before Operation Globe was set up.
The officers included two South Wales Police officers, one a detective constable, along with the roles of a sergeant and three constables from South Yorkshire Police and a sergeant and constable from Bedfordshire Police that were being looked at. It was revealed South Wales Police received information from four different police forces across Britain about Watkins crimes.
The Arrest of Ian Watkins for Child Sex Abuse
Watkins was first apprehended in June 2012, several months before he met Woman P, in connection to various drug charges, and he was granted bail shortly afterwards. He was arrested again on November 4, 2012, for drug possession, and a separate allegation that he possessed an obscene image of a child. South Wales Police were finally acting on information provided by witnesses.
From 2008 to 2011, a total of six people, including Joanne Mjadzelics had spoken to the police in regards to Watkins’ conduct. Arrested for a third time on December 17, 2012 on another drug possession charge, South Wales Police immediately conducted a search of his home. They focused on his computer in connection to their prior investigation and allegations made against him.
During the search, officers discovered numerous indecent images of children stored on his computer. Of the images found, there were 90 indecent photos of children, including 45 at level 4 and 2 at level 5. Many other images and videos were of extreme pornography, along with 22 images of bestiality including oral and vaginal sex with dogs. The ages of the child in the images ranged from 2 to 14 years old.
Appearing before Cardiff magistrates court on December 19, 2012, Watkins was charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a one-year-old girl and possession and/or distribution of indecent images of children and “extreme animal pornography”. Owing to the seriousness of the charges, he was remanded in custody.
His two female co-accused, Woman B and Woman P, had also been arrested and charged. Watkins denied the accusations, claiming he had no involvement in the alleged crimes. Imprisoned at HM Prison Parc in Bridgend, he appeared before video link at Cardiff Crown Court on December 31, and was remanded in custody until March 11, 2013.
The trial date was set for July 15, and at a hearing on June 3rd, Watkins denied all the charges when appearing before video link. Three days later it was announced that the trial of Watkins and his two female co-accused would start on November 25th, and was expected to last a month. Watkins lawyers attempted to have the venue moved outside Wales, but this request was denied.
The Trial of Ian Watkins
On November 26th, on the second day of the trial when the jury had been sworn in, Watkins and Woman P admitted to the charges, with Watkins pleading guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13, but not guilty to rape. This plea was accepted by the prosecution, halting the trial. He further pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault involving children.
This included, six counts of taking, making, or possessing indecent images of children, and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal. The day after his guilty plea, a telephone conversation at HM Prison Parc was recorded between Watkins and a female fan, in which he referred to his sex offences as “mega lolz”.
At a sentencing hearing on December 18, Mr Justice Royce said the court had heard a large number of horrific cases over the years, but that this case however “breaks new ground,” adding “What you three did plumbed new depths of depravity.” To Watkins he said, “You… achieved fame and success as the lead singer of the Lostprophets.”
“You had many fawning fans. That gave you power. You knew you could use that power to induce young female fans to help satisfy your apparently insatiable lust and to take part in the sexual abuse of their young children. Away from the highlights of your public performances lay a dark and sinister side.”
Because she entered her guilty plea at the first reasonable opportunity, Woman B was entitled to a standard one third discount on her sentence. Because Watkins and P waited until just before the jury was sworn in on the second day of the trial, they received no credit, but were given the conventional 10% off their sentences.
Watkins was considered the most dangerous by the Judge, and in his closing remarks he said of Ian Watkins and his crimes, “Mr Watkins presents a high risk of causing serious sexual, physical, emotional and psychological harm to children, both male and female, and to women, specifically his female sexual partners.”
“I have no hesitation in concluding that there is a significant risk to the public, in particular to young females and children, of serious harm occasioned by the commission by you of further specified offences. That risk is high.” Woman B was found to have an “infatuation with Watkins,” while Woman P was assessed by a psychologist who concluded that she had a mixed personality disorder. There was a low risk that either woman was reoffend again.
Woman B was said to show genuine remorse for her crimes, while the judge said there were “signs of remorse” from Woman P, and that they shared a “corrupting influence” under Watkins. The guidelines in determining Watkins sentence included the planning, and its graphic detail of his crimes, and the deliberate targeting of a vulnerable victim.
The abuse of trust in the cases of B and P, the commission of the offences by two people acting together, and the abuse of power in the case of Watkins along with the commission of offences whilst under the influence of drugs. The most serious considerations were the fact that a baby was particularly vulnerable victim.
In the case of Watkins, there was more than one victim, along with repeated assaults on the same victim. In addition, the court took into account the degradation through taking photos or videos as part of the offending. The court was unable to determine the effect the abuse would have on Watkin’s young victims, but considered it likely they would develop psychological difficulties as a result of coming to terms with what happened.
In sentencing the accused, Mr Justice Royce handed Watkins a 29 year prison term, with eligibility to apply for parole in 2031 after serving two-thirds of his prison term, followed by six years of supervised release for a total of 35 years. Woman B was given a 14 year sentence, while Woman P, owing to nature of her enthusiastic complicity in Watkins crimes, was sentenced to 17 years.
Ian Watkins in Prison
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. He was sent from HM Prison Parc to HM Prison Wakefield to begin serving his sentence. He was later transferred to HM Prison Long Lartin in 2014 in order to be closer to his mother.
On 9 October 2017, Watkins was accused of grooming a single 21-year-old mother from prison through a series of letters. A Lostprophets fan since she was 16, the young woman from Lincolnshire visited Watkins in prison after he sent her a letter in 2016 in which he claimed to love her. It was also alleged that Watkins made jokes about her two-year-old watching her have sex.
The child was taken into care once social services were alerted that the woman had contacted the paedophile singer. A spokesperson for the NSPCC said, “We’re sickened,” adding “It’s utterly bewildering that he could carry on grooming. It shows contempt for children he abused, and raises serious questions about supervision.”
A friend of the mother revealed she visited Watkins in prison in November 2016, and discovered that he had put on four stone, his hair had turned grey, and his teeth were rotting. He then allegedly asked if her daughter “came into the room during sex”. It was at that point the woman said she began to feel “scared”, but vowed to never let him have any contact with her daughter.
After it was discovered that the pair had been communicating, police seized her mobile phone and laptop in December, before taking the child into care. The woman then returned to visit Watkins in January 2018, to inform him of what had happened, before coming back again in March. Prison officials in Wakefield, where he had been transferred, reportedly found “nothing untoward” in their exchanges via letters and emails.
In March 2018, Watkins was found to be in possession of a mobile phone, and was accused of using it to maintain contact with a girlfriend outside prison, a charge which he denied. A search of his cell produced the charger for the phone. Watkins said the phone belonged to two inmates who forced him to hide it for them, but refused to give their names for fear of incurring violent retribution.
In August 2019, Watkins attended trial at Leeds Crown Court, during which he claimed to still receive fan mail from Lostprophets fans, and that the men wanted him to help them take advantage of the women writing in as a “revenue stream”. Watkins reportedly paid a Liverpool-based gang member for access to the mobile device.
He was reportedly paying £1000 for its use, however upon being caught with the phone in custody, this amount increased to £5000. At the conclusion of the five-day trial, Watkins was convicted and sentenced to a further ten months in prison, a term that was to run consecutively with his existing sentence.
At HM Prison Wakefield, where Watkins remained incarcerated, a hostage situation occurred on the morning of August 5, 2023, when three inmates held Watkins against his will. He suffered stab wounds, but was freed some six hours later by prison officers. It was confirmed by police that his injuries were not life-threatening.
The motive for the attack was allegedly a £600 drugs debt owed by Watkins to another prisoner, who used a sharpened toilet brush as a makeshift weapon. Shortly after the incident, Watkins was reported to have “spent his time buying both protection and friendships” from other inmates, with assistance from family and friends who arranged bank transfers to the inmates accounts.
Ian Watkins: Aftermath
Shortly after Ian Watkins was charged with thirteen sexual offences against children, including the attempted rape of a one-year-old girl, the other band members of Lostprophets posted a message on their website describing how they were “learning about the details of the investigation along with you”, concluding: “It is a difficult time for us and our families, and we want to thank our fans for their support as we seek answers.”
All tour dates were subsequently cancelled, and on October 1, 2013, the band announced they would be disbanding after “nearly a year of coming to terms with our heartache.” Once Watkins pleaded guilty to his crimes, the band posted a lengthy statement, saying how they were “heartbroken, angry, and disgusted”.
The band members stated that they had been unaware of his many crimes, and that though working with him had become “a constant, miserable challenge”, they had “never imagined him capable of behaviour of the type he has now admitted,” and urged any other victims to contact the authorities. Immediately after Watkins was sentenced, the BBC banned the entire Lostprophets back catalogue from being played on their stations.
In years when Ian Watkins was perpetrating his crimes against defenceless children, the police had numerous opportunities to stop him. However, the reports from people such as his ex-girlfriend Joanne Mjadzelics went unheeded. This was most likely because of his fame, something that has given monsters such as Watkins and Jimmy Savile, a certain measure of immunity.
It was the immunity from suspicion that allowed Watkins to continue to several years, to corrupt others and abuse the most vulnerable of victims, all while projecting to the world an image of a professional who was above suspicion. However, behind closed doors, Watkins was revealed to be one of the most degenerate and evil of serial offenders.
Ian Watkins: The Death of a Sex Offender
On October 11, 2025, it was reported that Watkins had been attacked and killed by another inmate at HMP Wakefield. The 48-year-old former rock star was serving a 29-year sentence for child sex offences. The disgraced former singer had reportedly been stabbed to death by another prisoner during what was described as a frenzied attack.
Later reports revealed that Watkins had been fatally injured in an incident at the prison just after 09:30am on Saturday. On October 13, 2025, it was reported that the two inmates at Wakefield Prison, 25-year-old Rashid Gedel and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, had been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Dodsworth and Gedel appeared before Judge Dunne at Leeds magistrates court. Speaking to Dodsworth, who appeared first, Dunne told him that “the charge against you means this case has to be sent to the crown court as soon as possible”. During the proceedings, both men spoke only to confirm their names and dates of birth.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c051nye9q9mo
Wakefield Prison, where the incident occurred, is a high security prison that houses some of the UK’s most notorious offenders, such as Roy Whiting, who murdered eight-year-old Sarah Payne, and Reynhard Sinaga, who was convicted of a total of 159 sexual offences against 48 men in 2020. Both men have reportedly been attacked in the prison in recent years.
The prison currently holds more than 6000 inmates, and a report published on the conditions within the facility noted how violence had “increased markedly,” since a previous inspection that occurred in 2022. The report went on to detail how the prison’s “infrastructure was in a poor state,” citing “repeated breakdowns of essential equipment,” and “some significan elements of the prison’s perimeter security systems.”
Written by Nucleus
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