A PRISONER has pleaded not guilty to murdering paedo Lostprophets star Ian Watkins in a jail attack.
The shamed former frontman, 48, was attacked at HMP Wakefield where he was serving a 29-year sentence for child sex offences.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, have both been charged with murder.
Dodsworth appeared at Leeds Crown Court today where he denied the charge along with a count of possession of a makeshift knife inside a prison.
Co-accused Gedel refused to leave his cell, the court was told, and did not enter a plea.
Imran Khan, defending, said Gedel had indicated he would not appear on the video link as he wanted to be in court in-person.
A provisional trial estimated to last between two and three weeks has been set for May 5 next year.
Both defendants were remanded in custody and will next appear for a case management hearing on February 2.
Watkins was declared dead at the scene after being attacked on October 11.
He is understood to have been ambushed and stabbed as inmates were allowed out of their cells.
An inquest into his death heard Watkins was declared dead by an attending doctor, and was formally identified by a prison officer.
A post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an incision to the neck.
It was the second time he was targeted in HMP Wakefield – nicknamed Monster Mansion – after a previous attack in 2023.
At the time, the depraved singer was rushed to hospital after he was taken hostage by three other prisoners.
Watkins was locked up in December 2013 after admitting a string of twisted child sex offences.
He was given 14 and 15-year consecutive prison terms for engaging in sexual activity with a child and the attempted rape of an 11-month-old baby.
He was also convicted of 11 other offences – with those sentences running alongside his 29-year term.
The disgraced frontman was arrested following the execution of a drugs warrant at his Pontypridd home on September 21, 2012.
His vile crimes came to light when officers seized a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices.
In 2019, he was jailed for 10 months on top of the sentence he was serving for child sex offences after he was found guilty of possessing a mobile phone in prison.
Watkins’ former bandmates were convinced it was a “mistake” when he was first arrested.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat in 2014, after reforming as No Devotion, they said they had drifted apart from the paedo in the months prior.
They said in the aftermath, people questioned how much they knew.
Guitarist Lee Gaze said at the time: “How could you know? How would 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.”
He added: “It wasn’t like, ‘That’s happened, let’s run away.’ It was like, ‘We are sticking together,’ which I think is such a bold statement.”
