British police have arrested two men on suspicion of murder following the fatal prison stabbing of former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins.
Watkins, 48, was killed on Saturday (Oct. 11) while serving a 29-year prison sentence at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, for a series of child sex offenses.
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Two male inmates — aged 25 and 43 — have been arrested in connection with the incident, according to a statement from West Yorkshire Police. A murder investigation is underway, though authorities have not yet released the suspects’ identities.
Watkins had been serving his sentence since 2013, when he was convicted on multiple child sex offenses. He pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including the attempted rape of a baby. At the time, the presiding judge said the case had “plumbed new depths of depravity.”
His death comes shortly after a report from the chief inspector of prisons highlighted a sharp rise in violence at HMP Wakefield, according to the BBC. The report found that many inmates, especially older men convicted of sexual offenses, reported feeling unsafe amid a growing population of younger prisoners.
This was not the first time Watkins was targeted behind bars. In August 2023, he was attacked by three fellow inmates, sustaining neck injuries that required medical treatment.
Lostprophets formed in 1997 and rose to prominence in the early 2000s with several U.K. chart hits. Their 2006 album, Liberation Transmission, topped the U.K. Albums Chart, and the 2004 single “Last Train Home” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart. The group disbanded in 2013 following Watkins’ arrest.
