Ian Watkins.

Upon starting my blog, I brainstormed things I could write my posts on. I realised that everyday when I check the news, I am guaranteed to find at least one article discussing something crime related. Although seemingly negative, I decided to keep my blog updated with current events. At this current time (December 2013) the Ian Watkins trial is fresh and still being talked about, with his sentencing set to take place this Wednesday.

Ian Watkins was a member of Welsh rock band, Lostprophets. They were formed in 1997, with their peak successful time being from 2003 to 2007. They had major success with songs such as ‘Last Train Home’ and ‘Rooftops.’ 

Watkins was arrested in December 2012 for allegations of conspiracy to rape a baby, a large number of child pornographic images on his computer and an image of extreme bestiality. In November 2013, at the start of what would have been a long and very distressing trial, (one prosecutor claimed that some of the video evidence was by far the worst he’s ever seen and would have been unable to show it even in court), he admitted to the charges. 

Lostprophets music mostly appealed to young teenagers, which also happened to coincide with the ‘emo’ scene that was just starting to become popular with them. The ‘emo’ phase was a generation of young teenagers who listened to music that mainly focused about the woes and worries of adolescence and first relationships, which gained controversy since some of the lyrics aimed at these children seemed to encourage and promote self-harm and suicide. (See bands such as Hawthorne Heights, From First To Last, My Chemical Romance) Personally, I believe these lyrics were metaphors to emphasize the dramatic experience of heart-ache when you are at that age, but since the majority of people who latched on to this music were emotionally immature, it created a very ‘attention-seeking’ and confused scene. 

Considering the type of young girls who would be listening to his music, Ian Watkins found a very convenient way of grooming. He knew that some of the girls listening to his music would be young and vulnerable, unaware of the signs of a grooming paedophile. These girls absolutely idolised him, viewing him as a complete ‘Rock God’. Not only was he attractive, he was successful and imitated an aura of power thanks to his fame and lifestyle. These vulnerable girls probably couldn’t believe their luck when approached by Watkins on internet forums.

What is incredibly chilling, is that whilst I have been researching the case, I stumbled across a forum with posts dating back to three years ago.(Unfortunately, I will not be posting the name of the forum, due to the fact that it names the two girls who have been charged along with Watkins and it is illegal to disclose their names.) On this site there were numerous girls discussing and arguing with each other over Ian, as if they were his property. They all mentioned how he would ‘one day get caught’ and that they had ‘seen what he wanted to do the children’ regarding drug use. They spat bitter insults at each other, and named the two girls who were arrested with Ian as being ‘obsessed’ with Ian.
Here is an example of some of the quotes I found:

"true he does need to be arrested before he infects any one else.You said the truth will come out but hes got away with it for this long how much longer before he caught."

"idk how long hes had h i v (or if he has H I V, im not the same person as the A I D S and pregnant commenter) but i do know in 09 a girl whose name i wont mention for her privacy found info on his computer on how to drug children. he told her he was thinking of giving kids drugs and you know what else. he probably started around that time.”

I read through the comments and although I can only assume, all the girls seemed so young, yet seemed to know Watkins or knew what he was up to. This is horrifying and chilling. Personally I believe Watkins knew exactly what he was doing. I can imagine he knew to target these young girls, as they would succumb to him and act out his fantasies for recognition and gain from such a massively famous rock star. He clearly manipulated these girls and used his fame as a way to change his extreme fantasies into reality.

Additionally, what can only be described as horrifying and somewhat bizarre, there is a video clip of a Myspace question and answer session with Lostprophets, in which you can just barely hear Watkins mutter under his breath a remark about his pedophilia interests. He gets propositioned a question by a user named ‘babygal’, who asks ‘what are your guilty pleasures?’ Ian replies under his breath, ‘you just answered your own question. I wonder what people would think if they heard me say that?’ His band mates seem to not hear or are innocently unaware of the seriousness of that answer. What chills me the most about that video clip is how blasé he is when talking so openly and publicly about his interests in young children, even bursting into laughter after he mumbles the crude comment. It’s as if he is proud and almost daring the public to cotton on to his evil deeds.

The Ian Watkins trial is something that I feel personally effected by. Of course, I have no similarities or relations with any of the victims or anybody involved, but I, like many others, listened to lostprophets as an adolescent. I remember listening to their album, ‘Start Something’, copious amounts of times with my friends and it was the beginning of my journey through rock music.

Although Ian has been caught, I believe only a snippet of the crimes he has committed have become public knowledge. Who knows how many other vulnerable girls he prayed on in an attempt to get closer to very young children. It’s a vile thought, but I hope the police and justice system are working very hard to unravel what could be a very long line of crimes. We shall soon see.