Lostprophets paedo Ian Watkins jailed for an extra 10 months after being caught with phone up his bum at ‘Monster Mansion’ prison
FORMER Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has been jailed for another ten months on top of his 35-year sentence today after being found with a mobile phone up his bum while in prison.
The 42-year-old paedo had hidden the device before a cell search at HMP Wakefield, West Yorks where he is serving a sentence for sex offences.
Watkins was jailed in 2013 after admitting 13 sex offences which a judge said "plumbed new depths of depravity", including the attempted rape of a baby.
He was given an extended sentence which included a 29-year prison term followed by an additional six years on licence.
And he was given another ten months behind bars today after being caught with a phone while at HMP Wakefield. The prison has been nicknamed Monster Mansion due to the large number of high-profile sex offenders and murderers held there.
Watkins was rumbled after an ex-girlfriend reported he was contacting her, the jury was told.
The trial heard the woman had received a text in March 2018 from a number she did not recognise which just said: "Hi Gabriella-ella,-ella-eh-eh-eh."
She said that the message, a reference to the hit Rihanna song Umbrella, made her think that Watkins was contacting her, but she then phoned the number to confirm it was.
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Watkins was wearing a blue denim jacket with a white trimmed collar and had his dark hair in a ponytail as he sat in the dock while the verdict was returned.
Judge Rodney Jameson QC said: "I am very conscious of the fact you are serving a very long time and you will be well into middle age by the time you are released.
"The fact of the matter is if there is not an appreciable penalty for having had a mobile phone in these circumstances then of course you would draw from that the lesson you could have another one and that is not a position I would want to encourage."
He said the sentence would delay by five months the time when Watkins was eligible to apply for parole.
The ex-frontman had pleaded not guilty to possessing a mobile phone in March 2018, claiming fellow inmates had threatened to slit his throat if he did not look after the mobile phone.
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He claimed two inmates forced him to hold on to it so that they could contact women who have sent him fan mail in order to use them as a "revenue stream".
In his evidence, the defendant, who jurors have been told is serving a sentence for sex offences, refused to name the men, but described them as "murderers and handy", adding: "You would not want to mess with them."
The court heard Watkins received "hundreds and hundreds of pages of letters" from women while in prison.
