One of the men accused of murdering former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has pleaded not guilty.
The disgraced singer, 48, had been serving a 35-year sentence after being convicted of 13 child sexual offences in 2013.
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.
Within days, Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were charged with his murder.
The former had previously refused to attend court on two occasions, including earlier this month, when it was announced he had been refusing to leave his cell but had been intending to eventually enter a not guilty plea.
He was again due to appear in court today, where he denied killing Watkins.
Prosecutor Tom Storey KC said at the time of Gedel’s first no-show: ‘The reason for Rico Gedel’s non-appearance this morning is said to be a refusal on his part to attend on the link. It appears he wanted to attend in person.’
No bail applications were made during the hearing, and both men were remanded in custody.
Judge Guy Kearl, the Recorder of Leeds, had initially set the provisional date of May 5 for the trial, which is expected to last for two to three weeks.
Dodsworth has previously denied possessing a makeshift knife at the prison on the same day Watkins was killed.
In a statement after Wakins’ death, police said: ‘Detectives have charged two men with murder after the death of a prisoner at HMP Wakefield on Saturday.
‘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.
Police discovered Watkin’s depravity when raiding his Pontypridd home in September 2012 for drugs. However, after his computer, mobile phones, and storage devices were seized, his crimes were unearthed, and he was charged.
During his sentencing, Lord Justice Christopher Pitchford said the ex-musician was ‘a determined and committed paedophile’.
‘These were offences against infant children of such shocking depravity that a very lengthy sentence of imprisonment was demanded,’ he added, before sentencing Watkins to 35 years behind bars.
In 2014, his lawyers argued during an appeal that his term should be cut because his last-minute guilty plea spared a jury from having to watch his homemade child pornography.
Among the disturbing videos due to be shown at his trial were his attempted rape of a baby and a webcam chat in which he instructed a crazed fan to abuse her child. That request for leniency was denied.
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