Six people made allegations about Lostprophets singer during four years before he was arrested, watchdog finds

Police missed a string of opportunities over a period of four years to stop the rock star Ian Watkins from committing depraved sex attacks on children and babies, a watchdog has concluded.

Six people came forward to make allegations against Watkins, the lead singer of Lostprophets, before he was finally arrested and jailed for 35 years, the report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found.

On one occasion a simple check of a mobile phone owned by one of Watkins’s ex-girlfriends when she made a complaint about him would have revealed a message that spelled out his interest in sex with children, the IPCC said.

The report made clear that Watkins, whose former band has sold 3.5m albums, believed himself above the law. It revealed he once boasted he had the same lawyers as Madonna and Puff Daddy, who would “rip you apart”.

IPCC investigators found that one detective had pointed out that any police action against Watkins would attract “huge publicity”. The same officer appeared sceptical about one allegation that surfaced just as Lostprophets had released a new album and been booked in for high-profile festivals. Following another allegation, the officer reported that “due to his fame” Watkins had had “a number of fans and ex-girlfriends making allegations that when investigated are false”.

The report, published on Friday, recommended that South Wales police’s safeguarding procedures be amended to give “specific consideration” to suspects who may pose “additional risk by virtue of their profile, which may be elevated due to their profession, wealth, celebrity or good standing in the community”.

It concluded: “The consequence of the force’s failings was arguably that a predatory paedophile offended over an extended period of time. The evidence obtained in this investigation suggests that South Wales police were faced with a litany of reports about his behaviour, yet in some instances did not carry out even rudimentary investigation, made errors and omissions and missed opportunities to bring him to justice earlier than he ultimately was.”

The IPCC commissioner for Wales, Jan Williams, said: “This investigation raised the most disturbing concerns about the way in which reports of Ian Watkins’s sickening child abuse were handled between 2008 and 2012. Watkins’s arrest for his depraved activities followed only after an arrest for drugs offences.”

The children’s charity the NSPCC described the conclusions as damning. It said: “This report should be a wake-up call for all those involved. That a simple unchecked mobile phone could have helped to prevent further abuse by Watkins is unthinkable, and is just one cause for significant concern among this catalogue of basic failures.

“While Watkins is now thankfully behind bars, where he belongs, and improvements have already been made by South Wales police, it’s clear that very serious mistakes were made in handling multiple early allegations.

“It is an incredibly difficult step to report child abuse so it is imperative that when people do speak out, they have the utmost confidence that what they are reporting will be taken seriously and acted upon immediately.

“Watkins used his status and fame as a means to commit a campaign of horrific abuse against vulnerable children. The effects of those crimes on his victims can last a lifetime.”

Watkins’s ex-girlfriend Joanne Mjadzelics reported in December 2008 that the singer had told her he had given a child cocaine and touched the youngster inappropriately. No officer visited the alleged victim or her parents – contrary to force policy – and in May 2009 a decision was made that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations.

Over the next four years, numerous complaints and intelligence reports about Watkins’s alleged drug use and sexual interest in children were submitted to South Wales police and other forces.

The report said Mjadzelics’s allegations were treated as malicious and suggested her credibility was undermined by the fact that she was a sex worker and had mental health issues.

But she was not the only source of information. In March 2012 a woman told police Watkins may have sexually assaulted an 11-month-old boy. She gave police a description of images that could be found on his computer and his password but officers took no steps to investigate.

The following month an Australian woman told police that Watkins was a child abuser and drug abuser. Her email concluded: “Please do not disregard this as it is serious.” Again nothing happened.

Police finally took action in June 2012 when they received information that Watkins, now 40, regularly imported drugs from the US. They raided his home and found disturbing and overwhelming evidence that he was a paedophile. He was jailed for crimes that took place both before and after 2008 – the year Mjadzelics first made her allegations.

The report said that while the decisions on the Watkins case were taken by a small number of officers, it had found force-wide weaknesses including poor record keeping and retention and poor management of intelligence.

A gross misconduct disciplinary hearing involving a detective sergeant took place this year but no findings were made against him.

South Wales police said it had already instigated a comprehensive overhaul of systems, policies and procedures following the Watkins case.

Assistant Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan said: “Today’s report highlights a number of failings in which information about Watkins was investigated between 2008 and 2012 which the force entirely accepts and regrets. South Wales police failed to listen and properly investigate information about Watkins offending behaviour, for this we are truly sorry.

“The review instigated as a result of Watkins’ arrest led to significant changes being made to the way we investigate crimes of this nature.”