Lostprophets label owner finally breaks silence on paedophile Ian Watkins

The record label owner who signed Lostprophets has spoken out about disgraced paedophile Ian Watkins and how the allegations of child sex crimes ended his music career

By: irishmirror.ie

Aug 19 2024
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Lostprophets label owner final

Lostprophets former record label boss has addressed Ian Watkins's vile child sex offences.

Disgraced former singer Ian Watkins, 47, is currently serving a 29-year sentence, with a further six years on license at His Majesty's Prison Wakefield, West Yorks.

The former musician was sentenced in December 2013 after pleading guilty to 13 sex offences – including the attempted rape of a baby, conspiring to rape a baby, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and on of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal.

Watkins has been behind bars for over a decade and will be eligible for parole in 2031. However, he was discovered to be hiding a phone back in 2019, with an extension to his sentence being added. Now, the former record label boss who signed the Welsh band Lostprophets to Visible Noise has spoken out about his crimes.

Speaking on the UPRAWR podcast, Julie Weir revealed she received a call from her senior and instantly knew it wasn't going to be good news. She said: "We were just about to start a big project with the band and then things spiralled from that. It was a long process really.

"Speaking to the lads, you would imagine people would know and that it was in plain sight. But a lot of things were happening without anyone knowing. Everyone is a really straight down-the-line person in that band and that's the thing. Out of all the things that could have happened, I never thought it would have been that to happen. It's a real shame because it was one of the biggest bands of that era."

Julie Weir has revealed how she found out about Ian Watkins' sick crimes (Image: Youtube/UPRAWR Podcast)

Watkins is serving a 29 year sentence for his sickening crimes — Watkins is serving a 29-year sentence for his sickening crimes (Image: PA)

Weir went on to add: "But he affected a lot of people's lives. There are people walking around with tattoos on their bodies and it's insane now. There is still stuff that pops up daily on Reddit and YouTube, I can't get it off my feed, so it’s a daily reminder of all that happened.

"For the label, it was absolutely catastrophic, I spent nearly half my life on the label and working with them and it was just really hard to have everything taken away. Those people had wives and kids and it was a good living for them but it was taken away in one go. You have to reevaluate your life and wonder why you spent so much time doing it. They were a great bunch of creative people and we had some amount of fun through all them years. Mad things happened. It was insane and brilliant but the world has changed. That world is gone."

Julie admits she no longer works with the label as they were unable to sign another artist due to the financial impact Watkins' crime had on the label. Last year, the Mirror revealed that Watkins had been stabbed in prison by another inmate and was in a critical condition.

He shocked the rock world after pleading guilty to the attempted rape of a baby and 10 other sex offences after preying on fans, including two who offered up their babies to be abused by their idol. Watkins was described in court as a "determined and committed paedophile".

Sentencing Mr Justice Royce said the case broke 'new ground' and 'plunged into new depths of depravity'. He said Watkins had a 'corrupting influence' and had shown a 'complete lack of remorse'. He added Watkins posed a significant risk to the public in particular to women with young children.

If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999

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