The guitarist for Lostprophets has spoken out for the first time about the ‘painful’ end to the band, 13 years after its disgraced singer Ian Watkins was jailed for sexually abusing children.
Lee Gaze, 50, said the band’s downfall was the ‘ultimate punishment’ and could not understand how it could happen to him as he felt he had ‘never really wronged anyone in my whole life’.
The shamed former frontman was jailed for 35 years in 2013 for 13 offences against children, including the attempted rape of an 11-month-old baby.
The pedophile also admitted to three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal.
Watkins changed his plea at the start of his trial but claimed he could not remember the ‘depraved’ abuse because he was high on crystal meth.
But Gaze revealed that the ‘unimaginable circumstances’ of how his band ended was often a topic he avoided.
The musician wrote on X: ‘It’s been 13 years since my band ended in the most unimaginable circumstances and it’s still painful to think about.
‘Things could’ve been so different.
Guitarist Lee Gaze, 50, has spoken out for the first time about the ‘painful’ end to the band Lostprophets and how their downfall was the ‘ultimate punishment’
The shamed former frontman Ian Watkins was jailed for 35 years in 2013 for 13 offences against children, including the attempted rape of an 11-month-old baby
Lostprophets entered the rock scene in 2000 with their debut album TheFakeSoundofProgress (pictured, members of Lostprophets (from the left) Lee Gaze, Stuart Richardson, Mike Lewis, Ian Watkins and Luke Johnson)
‘I don’t talk about it much but I put everything into that band and it should’ve lasted a lifetime.
‘I never really wronged anyone my whole life so it seemed like the ultimate punishment.’
Beloved fans rushed to consolidate the heartbroken guitarist, with one replying: ‘I’m really sorry you’re still carrying that pain. Everything should have been different. But fate is a cruel joke… You didn’t deserve it. I think a lot about what the band would be like now.’
Matt Clark wrote: ‘Eternally gutted for you guys. LP were one of my formative bands in my teens and saw you guys over 20 times.
‘If you all decided to re-record all your material with a new singer I’d support that! Reclaim something that one person should have no right to send to oblivion.’
Matt O’Grady said: ‘I always say to any band I record if LP comes up in convo, what that guy did was unspeakably evil, but I’ve got so much sympathy for everyone else in that (your) band, he ruined many other people’s lives and careers instantly, and it’s never spoken about.’
One fan, Julian, said: ‘Start Something was (and still is) such an important album to me, it’s such a shame the band will be remembered for one vile persons actions and not the music.
‘Those tunes should be staples of alternative club nights across the country.’
The musician wrote on X: ‘It’s been 13 years since my band ended in the most unimaginable circumstances and it’s still painful to think about’
The pedophile admitted to three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal
At trial Watkins claimed he could not remember the ‘depraved’ abuse he committed because he was high on crystal meth
Another added: ‘The band was so key in my formative years and I loved every single song. Shinobi is still one of my all timers. Heartbreaking circumstances in which things ended, his actions should never define the band or the rest of you. Could you gather the lads and form something else?’
Since Watkins’s 35-year term was handed down, he has had an extra 10 months added to the sentence due to possession of a mobile phone.
At a hearing for that offence, he told how he was locked up with ‘the worst of the worst’ and said someone could ‘sneak up behind me and cut my throat’.
And in August 2023, the vile creep was left in a critical condition in hospital after three ‘heavy-duty’ prisoners took him hostage for six hours and stabbed him in the neck in a targeted attack.
Officers at the prison had to wait for an armed ‘Tornado’ team of specially-trained riot officers to break up the hostage situation that lasted six hours, the Sun reported.
The officers hurled stun grenades into the cell in order to free Watkins – who visitors say still ‘prances around like a star’ behind bars – from the other inmates after they stormed the wing.
The pedophile was described as ‘screaming’ and in fear of his life as he was taken, with the entire West Yorkshire prison wing swiftly put on lockdown.
Sources claimed at the time the group of three responsible – two of which are believed to be ‘killers’ – were ‘recent arrivals’ to the Category A prison and had planned the attack, which is thought to be in anger over him giving guitar lessons to other inmates, to take place on a day where there were fewer staff working.
And in August 2023, the vile creep was left in a critical condition in hospital after three ‘heavy-duty’ prisoners took him hostage for six hours and stabbed him in the neck in a targeted attack in HMP Wakefield (pictured, stock image)
Describing the moment Watkins was taken hostage at the prison (pictured, stock image), a source said the paedophile as ‘screaming’ and in ‘fear of his life’
The singer – a former boyfriend of BBC radio and television presenter Fearne Cotton – pleaded guilty to sex offences involving the children of two female fans, who were sentenced to 14 and 17 years in prison for allowing the offences to take place.
Prosecutor QC Chris Clee told Cardiff Crown Court in 2013: ‘Ian Watkins was the lead singer of a successful band called the Lostprophets.
‘He was also a determined and committed paedophile engaged in serious sex offences involving of two babies.’
Mr Clee also gave details of a sickening 17-minute video involving Watkins and one of the baby’s mother.
He said camcorder footage was shot in a London hotel room which showed Watkins performing a sex act on the child.
Sentencing Watkins, Mr Justice Royce said the case broke ‘new ground’ and his actions ‘plunged into new depths of depravity’.
His ex-bandmates had previously spoken about Watkins soon after he was jailed, insisting that if they really knew who their bandmate was they ‘would have killed him’.
Lee Gaze, Mike Lewis, Stuart Richardson, Jamie Oliver and Luke Johnson, who are all from Pontypridd, south Wales, said they had no idea about the vocalist’s paedophile ways.
Watkins was sentenced to 35 years behind bars after he admitted to a horrific string of evil offences which included the attempted rape of an 11-month-old baby
Guitarist Gaze said: ‘How could you know?
‘Who would disclose such a thing to five people, who between them have eight children? You just wouldn’t because they would be killed on the spot.’
Speaking to Radio 1’s newsbeat in 2014, he said the band members were hit by two waves of shock – firstly when Watkins was arrested in December 2012 and a year later when he finally pleaded guilty.
He said: ‘There was two sets of shock because there were the accusations – which was one thing. And then there was the actual, “Yeah I did do it” which was a year later.
‘He dragged that out for a year, so we got hit by it twice.’
His former bandmates were trying at the time to move forward with their new band No Devotion, with the help of singer Geoff Rickly who they enlisted as their vocalist.
Bassist Stuart Richardson added: ‘Even though I was completely done with him (by this stage), I hoped it was all a mistake, he was innocent, he had to be.
‘The first time, we knew the band was done. You can’t go back from that.’
Towards the end of Lostprophets, Gaze said that Watkins had become increasingly distant from the band.
‘He was doing his own thing,’ he said.
‘That just grew worse over the years, the more he was using drugs.
‘He could be in the same city as me and I wouldn’t hang out with him, even if we weren’t playing shows.’
Lostprophets entered the rock scene in 2000 with their debut album TheFakeSoundofProgress. A major label deal soon followed and saw the band’s second album Start Something become a commercial success in 2002 both at home in the UK and the US.
However, cracks in Watkins’s life soon started to appear – with rumours emerging of him being a sex-crazed drug addict who regularly conducted seedy online sex chats with young fans.
He has also previously faced multiple allegations of inappropriate messages and sex with underage girls.
Watkins initially denied his sickening crimes and claimed he was being framed to look like a paedophile after police found incriminating footage.
