A PRISONER told Ian Watkins “have a good night’s sleep, lad” after he sliced his jugular in a prison attack, a murder trial heard.
The former Lostprophets frontman, 48, was attacked at HMP Wakefield where he was serving a 35-year sentence for child sex offences.
Watkins was killed in a jail attack Credit: AFP
Rashid Gedel has been charged with murder Credit: PA
Jurors heard today “notorious and high-profile prisoner” Watkins had been accused of getting another inmate kicked off the wing the day before he died.
The singer had received two notes as a result that demanded money from him and threatened him with “violence”, it was said.
On October 11 last year, Watkins was sat in his cell when fellow inmate Rico Gedel allegedly entered with a homemade bladed weapon.
The 25-year-old then stabbed the paedo three times in the head and neck – cutting through Watkins’ jugular vein and the surrounding muscle tissues, it was said.
He appeared in court alongside Samuel Dodsworth Credit: Derbyshire Police
Watkins was jailed in 2013 after admitting a string of child sex offences Credit: WNS
As he was later walked past the paedo’s cell, Gedal allegedly said: “Have a good night’s sleep, Watkins lad”.
Leeds Crown Court was told “coincidentally”, Gedal had been placed in a cell next to Watkins the afternoon before the attack.
Tom Storey KC, prosecuting, said he only had a 30-minute window to attack Wakins that morning.
He told the court Watkins had chosen not to leave his cell when it was unlocked shortly after 9am.
Gedel was a “basic prisoner” and only allowed out of his cell for half an hour on a Saturday morning, which he would have known.
“It also meant that he had only that 30-minute window of opportunity to do what he planned to do that morning,” Mr Storey added.
He had met up with fellow prisoner Samuel Dodsworth, 43, in another cell shortly before the horror, it was said.
Jurors heard Gedal was then seen waiting on the prison landing for officers to move out of sight before he had the “opportunity to carry out the planned attack”.
Mr Storey said Dodsworth was on the landing, drinking from a mug and acting as a lookout.
The court heard the attack was “clearly a joint offence” as Dodsworth was aware the attack was to take place.
Jurors were also told he disposed of the weapon used in the horror.
Mr Storey added: “There are some criminal offences which are so heinous that they frankly defy belief and these include the more extreme examples of what are often referred to as child sex offences.
“And there are those who perhaps believe that the punishments meted out by our courts upon people who commit such offences do not go far enough.
“But we have not had the death penalty in this country since 1965, and when we did, it was reserved for offences of murder and treason.
“The law of this country therefore remains that the appropriate means of punishing those who commit even the most serious criminal offences is by sentencing them to lengthy terms of imprisonment.
“Nevertheless, because of the particular stigma which attaches to those who commit child sex offences, even when they are sentenced to decades in prison for their crimes, they remain targets for those who take the view that their punishment is not severe enough, that imprisonment is somehow too good for them.
“And on occasion, some people decide simply to take the law into their own hands and to enact their own form of punishment upon such offenders.”
Both Gedal and Dodsworth have pleaded not guilty to murder.
The trial continues.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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