Ex-Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has been given a 35-year sentence - 29 years in prison with an extended licence period of six years - at court today (December 18).

The 36-year-old, from Pontypridd, pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court last month to 13 sex offences, including the attempted rape of a baby.



"What you three did plumbs new depths of depravity," the judge told Watkins and his two female co-defendants, who remain unnamed to protect the identity of their victims.



Watkins must serve a minimum of two-thirds of his sentence before he can be considered for release.

Woman A was sentenced to 14 years in prison and Woman B was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

"I have no hesitation in concluding there is a serious risk to the public," the judge Mr Justice Royce said of Watkins, who he said took "evident delight" in abusing small children and exhibited "an almost complete lack of remorse".

"Any decent person looking at or listening to material here would experience shock, revulsion, anger and incredulity."

He added to Woman A: "A mother naturally loves, protects, shields, nurtures and cherishes. Your infant would have trusted you implicitly. You totally betrayed that trust."

The judge said that messages between Watkins and Woman B "defy belief".

Prosecutor Christopher Clee QC told the court this morning (December 18) that Watkins had made phone calls from prison where he revealed plans to deny his guilt at this sentencing.

On November 27, the day after his guilty plea, Watkins said: "It was like either me go up there and say, 'Come on, it wasn't that bad, nobody got hurt'.

"I do my charm or do I end up making things worse for myself or do I just say I was off my head and can't remember?"

Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire



He added: "I'm going to put a statement on the 18th now just to say it was mega lols, I don't know what everyone is getting so freaked out about."



The following day, Watkins said in a second call: "There was no medical evidence, nobody was harmed at all. I'm not a paedophile, I'm not.

"You know I plead[ed] guilty just to avoid a trial, not realising, 'Hang on, that makes me look a bit guilty.' But I would never harm anybody."

The court was told that photographs on Watkins's computer were of children aged 2 to 14. Of the 90 images, two were at Level 5, 45 at Level 4, 18 at Level 3, one at Level 2 and 24 at Level 1. 22 graphic images of bestiality were also found.

Watkins's lawyer told the court that he deserves credit for his guilty plea, which meant a full trial could be avoided.

She added that his client is not the first rock star to take advantage of adulation from fans and had been "bombarded" by obsessive followers on social media, claiming that much of the communication was "fantasy".



The defence claimed that Watkins was being "set up" by such an obsessive fan.



Watkins's QC Sally O'Neill said that her client was sent images of "extraordinary depravity" round the clock by fans in a bid to attract his interest.

The defence argued that Watkins's drug addiction was a mitigating factor, adding of a video of him engaging in abuse: "He was very shocked when he saw it and couldn't believe he had participated in such activity."

However, the judge Mr Justice Royce countered that the videos of Watkins "depict horrific sexual abuse" and that defence claims Watkins had "no recollection" of the events was "wholly unrealistic".

Watkins's team claimed that due to their young age, the children involved will have no memory of being abused.

O'Neill said: "I don't for one moment pretend that Ian Watkins didn't fully take part and reciprocate in these fantasies but it is marked that often the initiator was the fan, whether it is one of the co-defendants or not."

The judge countered: "This is not a fantasy... they [the co-defendants] have pleaded to an intention to rape."



The defence noted that an "increasingly fragile" Watkins had been on 15-minute suicide watch, suggesting that he had been vilified out of proportion due to his celebrity status.



O'Neill added that a pre-sentence report showed that while her client was preoccupied with sex, he does not have a "child sexual preference".

Watkins's legal team further told the court that he did not groom the children's mothers, but that the crime was a joint enterprise, adding that he was "ashamed" and "appalled" by his actions and deeply sorry for them.

They added that while Watkins found it hard to believe what he had done, he "accepts the reality of what happened".

Jonathan Fuller QC, mitigating for Woman A, aged 21, claimed that his client was vulnerable, "manipulated and corrupted" by Watkins, with whom she was infatuated, adding that the singer had injected her with heroin "to facilitate his sexual gratification".

He added that Woman A was not an obsessive fan seeking out Watkins, though noted that she accepts full responsibility and culpability for her actions.

In mitigation for Woman B, Christine Laing QC noted that her client - who was lonely and suffering from post-natal depression and an undiagnosed personality disorder - was a big fan of Watkins with more than 1,200 pictures of him found on her iPod Touch on arrest.

As Ian Watkins is sentenced today, pls can we remind you that to protect the victims of his crimes his co-defendants must not be identified â€” South Wales Police (@swpolice) December 18, 2013

Watkins sent a message to Woman B stating: "You and your daughter now belong to me."

It was argued that methamphetamine being found in the child's hair was proof only that the drug had been taken in its presence, not that it had been administered to the child.

The judge claimed he "can see obvious enjoyment the mother gets" from the abuse of the child in the video, a claim Woman B denies.

In his guilty plea last month, Watkins denied two counts of raping an 11-month-old baby, but admitted attempting to rape the child. This was accepted by the prosecution.

He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rape a child aged under 13, and conspiring to sexually assault a child under the age of 13.

The musician also admitted several charges of possessing indecent photographs of children, plus two counts of taking indecent photographs of children dating back to 2007 and 2008. Watkins also pleaded guilty to possession of extreme pornography of a person engaged in a sex act with an animal.

He also admitted aiding and abetting one of the female co-defendants to sexually assault a child under the age of 13.

Watkins's former bandmates dissolved the group in October, following Watkins's arrest in 2012.

After his guilty plea, they said that they were they were "heartbroken, angry and disgusted" by the news and confirmed that they had no prior knowledge of Watkins's behaviour.

Anyone who has been affected by this case or other cases of child abuse can contact South Wales Police on 029 20634184 or the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.