'What you did plumbs new depths of depravity': Judge condemns Lostprophets pervert Ian Watkins as he is jailed for 29 YEARS

• .Ian Watkins, 36, has admitted attempted rape of a 11-month-old boy in 2012
• .Singer is jailed for 29 years followed by six years on extended licence 
• .Judge Royce calls him 'dangerous' and 'children need protection from you'
• .Police call rock star potentially 'the most dangerous sex offender ever'
• .Woman A and Woman B - his accomplices - received 14 and 17 years
• .After his guilty plea he called friend and described baby rape as 'Mega lolz'
• .'I don’t know what everyone is getting so freaked out about,’ he said
• .Star on suicide watch in jail where officers check him every 15 minutes
• .Defence say his life unravelled life because of obsessed fans and drugs
• .Woman A was 'infatuated', took heroin with him and 'went to a dark place'
• .Woman B a depressed superfan who 'couldn't believe he was interested'
• .Computer filled with porn had more storage than investigating police force 
• .Bedfordshire, South Wales and South Yorkshire forces probed by IPCC

By MARTIN ROBINSON and PAUL BENTLEY 

Insult: Ian Watkins used one of his favourite phrases, 'mega lolz', as he described his child sex crimes to a friend from jail after pleading guilty

Unrepentant paedophile Ian Watkins has been jailed for 29 years today after he used his fame and wealth to seduce 'fawning' fans so he could abuse their children.

The former rock star, 36, was told plotting to rape two babies with the help of their 'infatuated' mothers 'plumbed new depths of depravity'.

His two accomplices, who cannot be named, were sentenced to 14 years and 17 years in prison this afternoon.

Mr Justice Royce said Watkins, who was shaking in the dock, viewed the babies 'not as a human being, simply as a sexual object  for your pleasure' and he showed 'evident delight' in sexually abusing children.

He told Cardiff Crown Court judges and lawyers ‘see and hear a large number of horrific cases. This case, however, breaks new ground.

‘Any decent person will experience shock anger and incredulity'.

The two women who helped him were told they carried out the 'greatest betrayal' after offering the Lostprophets singer their children up for abuse.

Addressing Watkins, he said: 'You had many fawning fans. That gave you power. You knew you could use that power to induce young female fans to help satisfy your insatiable lust and take part in the sexual abuse of their own children.

'I am satisfied that you are a deeply corrupting influence, you are highly manipulative, you are a sexual predator, you are dangerous.

'The public and, in particular, young females need protection from you.'

Behind his celebrity lay ‘a dark and sinister side’, he added.

The judge gave him 29 years in prison, of which he is expected to serve almost 20 years, followed by a further six years on licence after his release.

 

More...

• Paedophile Ian Watkins made £100,000 in royalties from Lostprophets music since he was arrested for child sex offences

Watkins looked blank as he was led from the dock and the sentence was greeted by shouts of 'Yes' from the public gallery.

Mother A, who allowed Watkins to try to rape her son, received 14 years in prison. Mother B, who  took part in a plot with Watkins' to rape her daughter, received 17 years.

Shocking: Ian Watkins pictured himself performing a sex act in a Skype conversation, where he also begged to abuse the daughter of a fan he was having sex with

The judge spoke in court about an interview that Watkins had with the Probation Service, since the admissions he made last month, for a report.

'ARROGANT' WATKINS BLAMED FANS AND DRUGS FOR CHILD ABUSE

Ian Watkins has persistently refused to accept that he is a paedophile and even denied a video showing him trying to rape a baby was him.

Instead the singer attempted to blame memory loss caused by drugs and also obsessed fans for his string of child sex offences.

In mitigation Watkins defence team today admitted that he was arrogant and had 'taken advantage of his fame.'

Sally O'Neil QC, defending, said: 'The Lostprophets were an extremely well known rock band both in Wales and internationally.

'Watkins received constant attention from fans and when they had that attention they would do anything to keep it.

'He would not be the first rockstar to find that a heady mix - nor the first or last to take advantage of it.

'For 24 hours a days, seven days a week, Ian Watkins was bombarded with messages from fans trying to hit on him.'

Miss O'Neil QC said that Watkins had a desire to push taboos and break boundaries.

'The level of attention he got from fans escalated in a criminal fashion which has lead to him being before the courts,' she said.

'From 2009 he became quite addicted to a variety of drugs which lead to him having no memory of being on tour with the group and his actions continued when he was at home.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Watkins had previously denied sexually assaulting children but videos showed him attempting to rape a baby.

Miss O'Neil QC added: 'He now realises it's him in the videos and the realisation makes him feel sick.

'Watkins claimed his personality meant he did nothing by halves and so his drug use quickly escalated.

'There was his arrogance because of the position he was in which lead to his inability to adhere with societies boundaries.'

But Nottingham Trent University senior psychology lecturer Serena Simmons, whose research work has seen her come face to face with some of Britain's worst sex offenders, said drugs are often a secondary issue when it comes to child abusers.

She said: 'In my experience I have never met a child abuser who has been made one via their drug-taking.

'They usually have a long history of abuse or attempted abuse towards children.

'Looking at his background and analysing his life over a number of years will be key to establishing where he developed this unhealthy attraction.

'However, Ian Watkins' drug-taking is not the reason for his actions.'

'You spoke to the author of your desire to shock and your craving to push the sexual boundaries,' the judge said.

'This craving was fuelled by your use of cocaine and methamphetamine which increased your sexual aggression.

'You spoke of not knowing to what extremes you would have gone but for your arrest. It is difficult to imagine anything much worse.'

Police said after the sentencing Watkins was potentially the most dangerous sex offender ever, and their ongoing investigation now has spread to the United States and Germany.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Doyle said 'he has shown no empathy, no sympathy or any remorse'.

'It's as if he just doesn't care. He has shown no remorse at any time. In my view, that potentially makes him the most dangerous sex offender I have ever seen.

'Offending against children does not get any worse. We are not talking about children of any age here, we are talking about babies. I don't know what he is not capable of.'

'For me he is a committed, organised paedophile. I believe that he has offended against other children.'

Earlier the court heard Watkins phoned a friend from prison after pleading guilty to child sex abuse last month and described his evil crimes as ‘mega lolz’ - a famous phrase used by his band the Lostprophets.

His defence team also revealed Watkins believed he was 'set-up' by obsessed fans 'trying to hit on him' because he was too high on drugs to remember the abuse.

In a phone call from prison with a woman named Samantha on November 27 he said his crimes were ‘not that bad’ and said he had considered trying to trick a jury into believing he was innocent using his ‘charm’.

‘It was like either me go up there and say come on it wasn’t that bad. Do I try to win them over with my charm? Or do I just make things worse for myself saying I was off my head, I can’t remember,’ he said.

Describing his abuse of children, he added: ‘It was mega lolz. I don’t know what everyone is getting so freaked out about.’

A day later, on November 28, he again showed no remorse, describing himself as a victim.

He told the same friend: ‘It’s so hard. There is a lot of f****** bulls*** chat I did to shock when I was off my head. There was no medical evidence. I’m not a paedophile, I’m not. You know I’ve plead guilty just to avoid a trial. I would never harm anybody.’

‘When I go for sentencing I’m going to release a statement,’ he said. When advised not to say it was ‘mega lols’, he responded: ‘It’s just lols now.’

The phrase 'mega lolz' was used by the Lostprophets on some of their T-shirts. The group also performed in front of a back-drop saying MEGA LOLZ! on the main stage of the Reading Festival in 2010.

The court heard Watkins, 36, had images on his computer of children between the ages of two and 14. He also had 22 pictures of bestiality, showing sex with dogs.

Depraved: The rock star had denied the crimes but police realised it was him because of his distinctive tattoos and his voice

A probation report published today deemed him a 'high risk' of causing serious sexual harm to children.

Upset: Joanne Majic, a former prostitute and girlfriend of Watkins, was in court today and claims she first warned police about the paedophile four years ago

Watkins appeared in court with the two mothers who took part in the abuse of their babies. He wore a three piece suit and red tie, with his hair in a quiff and looked straight ahead, betraying little emotion.

The former rock star pleaded guilty to a series of charges last month but claimed he was so high on crystal meth he could not remember doing it.

But police believe he is a habitual sex offender who may have abused many more children. 

He was caught after sending a series of disgusting text and internet messages where the 36-year-old paedophile plotted with two groupies to abuse their children with their consent.

As well as sexually touching an 11-month-old baby alongside the child's mother, he encouraged another obsessed fan to abuse her own child during a webcam chat.

Police also found that Watkins secretly stashed child porn on computer hard drives and made his own videos.

Watkins previously insisted he was innocent and would fight until his last breath to clear his name.

His fans also rallied around him but were left in shock when he pleaded guilty to 13 offences on the day the jury was due to be sworn in at Cardiff Crown Court.

One of the women, who allowed Watkins to try to rape her 11 month old son, has recently cut her hair short and spent the entire hearing chewing her lips and gums.

The other looked down, with long wet hair hanging over her face.

In the dock: Watkins, 38, will be sentenced today after he admitted to a string of horrific child sex offences including attempting to rape a fan's 11-month-old baby boy biut he has described it as mega lolz, a favourite phrase of his band

In mitigation, Watkins' barrister, Sally O'Neill, said her client's life had unravelled because of the pressures of fame and his drug addiction.

'He was the singer of an extremely successful band that sold millions of records and the focus of considerable attention from fans,' she said.

PAEDOPHILE'S COMPUTER HAD MORE STORAGE THAN POLICE

Paedophile rockstar Ian Watkins had more computer data than the police force who investigated his evil crimes, it emerged today.

The shamed Lostprophets singer stored depraved images on dozens of laptops and hard drives - giving him a massive 27 terabytes of storage.

Police had to search through his huge banks of computer storage to find his sick child porn stash - then turned to the Government's top computer specialists at GCHQ to crack his encryption codes.

Detective Super Inspector Peter Doyle, who led the investigation, said: 'Watkins' data storage size was 27 terabytes - which is five times the size of South Wales Police systems in storage capacity.

'Not all of it was illegal material - but if you need 27 terabytes then you're clearly into that kind of world.'

Watkins, of Pontypridd, South Wales, spent a lot of his Lostprophet's fortune on 'computing and multimedia devices'.

The singer used his technology to record music and design his band's album art and tour posters.

But he also kept indecent images of children including a video of him attempting to rape a baby.

Watkins tried to cover his tracks by using off-site 'cloud' storage - he also used passwords including one: 'If***kids'.

But it was cracked by GCHQ.

'Fans who would do anything to attract his attention and once they had it do anything to keep it.

'It was 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He was bombarded with messages from fans trying to hit on him.'

She also urged Mr Justice Royce to consider the context of how the offences came about.

'There is little that can be said in the way of mitigation,' she said.

'However, the court may wish to consider how did this happen? What caused a man who had no problems in his life until he was about 30 commit these sort of offences?

'The drugs obviously played a considerable part in this.'

She said it was clear that Watkins had been on drugs during the abuse of Woman A's baby - an episode captured on his video camera and later uploaded to an online storage facility.

Ms O'Neill said Watkins - who has been on suicide watch every 15 minutes while on remand - had no memory of the incident and was 'deeply sorry and ashamed' when realising what he had done.

She also sought to downplay Watkins' 'mega lolz' comments - which she described as 'bravado'.

'He was at a very low ebb and under considerable stress,' she added.

She also handed over letters from Watkins' family and friends which described him as 'kind, gentle, considerate and talented man'.

It was also her case that the two female co-defendants were equally to blame for the abuse that was carried out.

Two female co-defendants, aged 21 and 25, also pleaded guilty. They cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard that the woman who allowed Watkins to try rape her baby is ‘genuinely devastated by what she has done’. 

They met when she was 17 and he was almost twice her age.

‘She takes full responsibility and doesn’t attempt to blame anyone,’ her lawyer added.

‘She was a vulnerable girl who allowed herself to be manipulated and corrupted by this co-defendant who introduced her to a world of drugs, sometimes pressing it upon her including injecting her with Heroin to facilitate his sexual gratification. Ultimately, she let herself be taken to a very dark place.’

She was ‘infatuated’ with Watkins, the court heard, and wanted to be in a long term relationship with him.

‘She sacrificed her moral compass so she could sustain the relationship. She was frightened of losing him.

‘The terrible cost she now has realised.’

Prosecution: Cardiff Crown Court heard that Watkins was 'a determined and committed paedophile engaged in serious sex offences involving of two babies'

The other woman was told by Watkins: ‘You can reap the rewards of your master being a very big deal. I am and you and your daughter now belong to me.’

The woman was a ‘major fan’ of the Lostprophets and had 1,200 pics of him on her iPod touch.

Famous: Ian Watkins, 36, pictured with former girlfriend Fearne Cotton, will be jailed after his guilty pleas. The pair are pictured together in London in 2008

Her defence barrister Christine Laing described her as ‘a very immature young woman suffering from undiagnosed personality disorder and exceptionally lonely’

‘She couldn’t believe he was giving her attention. She was hooked on the excitement.’

The guilty pleas spared a jury the need to sit through a harrowing 17-minute video of Watkins abusing a baby.

The abuse is thought to be so widespread that investigating officers have since launched a nationwide appeal for other potential victims to come forward - and are pursuing new leads after receiving a flurry of calls.

Prosecutor Christopher Clee QC said last month: '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 two babies.'

Mr Clee read to the court a series of text and internet messages between Watkins and two female co-defendants.

Catrin Evans, head of the complex casework unit at Crown Prosecution Service Wales, said the three defendants' actions demonstrated sexual exploitation at its worst.

'A number of the victims are too young to be able to understand what has happened to them, yet the defendants exploited them for their own gratification,' she said.

Watkins admitted two counts of attempted rape and sexual assault by touching Woman A's baby.

He also admitted two conspiracy charges: aiding and abetting Woman B to sexually abuse her own child.

Watkins also pleaded guilty to possessing and making indecent photographs of children, as well as having extreme pornographic material involving bestiality on his computer hard drive.

Woman A, 21, admitted six offences and Woman B, 25, pleaded guilty to seven offences.

According to sentencing guidelines, the starting point for attempted rape is 15 years custody.

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 lists an aggravating factor as 'the extreme youth' of a victim.

Exchange: This AOL conversation shows how Watkins apparently offered to DJ at the woman's daughter's party in return for sex with her child

Prison sentences of longer than 30 months for sex offenders mean they will be on the sex offenders register for the rest of their life.

Sentencing: 'Committed paedophile' Ian Watkins faces jail today for a series of child sex offences carried out with the help of two female fans

In October the remaining members of multiplatinum-selling act Lostprophets said the group had split up.

After Watkins's guilty plea, ex-bandmates Luke Johnson, Jamie Oliver, Lee Gaze, Stuart Richardson and Mike Lewis released a statement condemning his behaviour.

'Many of you, understandably, want to know if we knew what Ian was doing. To be clear: We did not,' they said.

'We knew that Ian was a difficult character. Our personal relationships with him had deteriorated in recent years to a point that working together was a constant, miserable challenge.

'But despite his battles with drugs, his egotistic behaviour and the resulting fractures and frustrations within our band, we never imagined him capable of behaviour of the type he has now admitted.

'We are heartbroken, angry and disgusted at what has been revealed.

'Our hearts go out to Ian's family, the fans and friends he betrayed and, most importantly, the victims of his crimes and others like them.

'We hope for justice but also that Ian will truly take responsibility for what he's done.

'We would urge any other victims to contact the authorities.'

THIRD police force under investigation over claims officers failed to properly investigate child sex allegations

Three police forces are now being investigated over claims they were warned Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins was a paedophile up to four years ago but ignored it.

His former girlfriend Joanne Majic claims she reported him at least eight times since 2008 after he confessed his sexual fantasy was to have sex with a baby.

Today the Independent Police Complaints Commission has today revealed it is probing Bedfordshire Police, having previously admitted it is also looking at South Wales Police and South Yorkshire Police.

Horror: Joanne Majic, the ex-girlfriend of Ian Watkins, said he had fantasies about kidnapping and murdering a baby and warned police at first in 2008

The watchdog's Commissioner Jan Williams said: 'No-one can fail to be shocked by the vile details of Ian Watkins offending that emerged in court last month.

'We now have three separate independent investigations into South Wales, South Yorkshire and Bedfordshire Police running alongside each other involving the handling of information held on Mr Watkins prior to his arrest.

'But this is complex and will take time. There are clearly links between the three investigations which cover a four year period and involve numerous allegations and reports and the police response to each must be considered'.

Watkins, the former Lostprophets frontman, was described by a prosecutor as a 'determined and committed paedophile' when he pleaded guilty to a series of charges last month. 

Miss Majic said he 'would have sex with anyone' and made one 15-year-old 'superfan' dress as a schoolgirl before convincing her to offer up her own baby for abuse.

The former prostitute, 38, said: 'I've always said to the police, there's hundreds of victims out there and you're never going to find them because the mothers are in on it'.