By Tony O’Reilly-
A second inmate has denied murdering former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins in prison.
The disgraced singer, 48, had been serving a 35-year sentence after being convicted of 13 child sexual offences in 2013, but died after an attack in his prison cell at HMP Wakefield.
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Charges included conspiring to rape an 11-month-old baby and three counts of sexual assault involving children.
But in October last year, Watkins was stabbed to death in his prison cell at HMP Wakefield.
On Friday, Rashid Gedel, 25,(pictured) referred to as Rico Gedel in court, became the second serving prisoner to plead not guilty to murdering Watkins.
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His co-accused Samuel Dodsworth, 43, denied the offence at a hearing in November, appearing on a video link from prison.
Gedel has refused to attend previous hearings over the link, saying he wanted to appear in person.
He was brought to Leeds Crown Court for Friday’s hearing, where he pleaded not guilty to murder and possession of a “makeshift knife” in prison.
Gedel and Dodsworth are charged with murdering Watkins at HMP Wakefield on October 11.
Their trial is due to start on May 5.
The former Lostprophets frontman was killed in prison in October last year (Picture: Marc Grimwade/WireImage)
Rashid Gedel, aged 25, who self-defines as any other Black background, and Samuel Dodsworth, aged 43, who self-defines as white British, both of HMP Wakefield, have both been charged with murder.’
A source previously told The Sun that Watkins was killed in ‘the most brutal way possible, even for prison standards’.
They continued: ‘He was targeted by another inmate who shanked him in the neck.
‘Guards were nearby and raced to the scene pretty quickly – but there was nothing they could do, and they could not save him.’
Watkins was ‘airlifted to hospital’ as the prison, also known by its nickname of ‘Monster Mansion’, was ‘locked down’.
The former Lostprophets singer, who formed the band in 1997 alongside Lee Gaze, was left ‘fighting for his life’ after a knife attack in 2023, a decade into his sentence.
Watkins was jailed for 29 years in December 2013, with a further six years on licence, after admitting a string of sex offences – including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.
He was arrested following the execution of a drugs warrant at his Pontypridd home on September 21 2012 when a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized.
Analysis of the equipment uncovered the singer’s depraved behaviour.
Watkins was previously taken to hospital after being attacked in 2023.
In 2019, he was jailed for an additional 10 months after he was found guilty of possessing a mobile phone in prison.
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