Paedophile Ian Watkins was fatally stabbed by a man who had designs on being “famous”, according to the prosecutor in the murder trial. The former singer in Pontypridd rock band Lostprophets was killed while serving a 29-year prison sentence for child sexual abuse offences, including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.

Two men – Rico Gedel, 25, also known as Rashid, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43 – are standing trial accused of murdering Watkins in HMP Wakefield last October. The killing was the second time Watkins had been attacked while serving time in the west Yorkshire prison.

On the first day of the trial, Leeds Crown Court heard Watkins, 48, was stabbed with a makeshift weapon before being found in his jail cell covered in blood and in a critical condition. You can read our live updates from court here.

Tom Storey KC, prosecuting, said CCTV footage from 9.19am on the day of the killing showed Gedel entering Watkins’ cell while Dodsworth was allegedly keeping watch at the top of a nearby flight of stairs. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here

Mr Storey said: “Whilst the prosecution cannot say precisely what happened in Watkins’ cell during the 20 seconds that Rico Gedel was inside it, it is clear, given what happened, that during that short window of time, Mr Gedel had attacked Watkins with a homemade weapon, of course inflicting three wounds to his head and neck, one of which seems to have been particularly severe in nature.”

The prosecutor told the court that Dodsworth was “clearly keeping a lookout” for Gedel during the incident, adding: “Once it became clear that the wing was going to be locked down, Mr Dodsworth then took the weapon and hid it in one of the bins in the recess area leading to the showers, where it was subsequently found by prison officers.”

Mr Storey said CCTV footage showed that Gedel left Watkins’ cell after 20 seconds and walked towards Dodsworth.

“As the two drew alongside each other, Gedel can be seen on the footage to pass something to Dodsworth, who glanced at it before putting it into the pocket of his jogging bottoms.,” said the prosecutor. “Mr Gedel then made his way back down the stairs to the first landing.”

The court heard Watkins was then seen by two workmen emerging from his cell, “holding his hands to his neck and bleeding from the wound”.

Prison officers were alerted and made their way to Watkins’ cell, where they saw he was “bleeding from wounds to his face”, prompting a Code Red for urgent assistance from officers across the prison, the court heard.

“Officer Burrows realised that Watkins had a particularly large wound to the side of his neck,” said Mr Storey.

“He picked up a towel and pressed it against Watkins’ wound in an attempt to try to hold it closed. He spoke to Watkins, who was sitting on his bed, telling him to stay calm and that healthcare staff were on their way.

“He asked who had done this, and Watkins said something to the effect of ‘that little black fella’.

“Officer Burrows realised that this was a reference to the defendant Gedel, and called to his colleagues that it was Mr Gedel. At this point, other officers began to arrive in Watkins’ cell, and a call was made to the healthcare team requesting an ambulance.”

The prosecutor continued: “The healthcare professionals told Watkins to lie down and as he did so, they saw how serious the wound to his neck was. An instruction was given for the wing to be locked down – in other words, for all prisoners to be ordered back to their cells, and locked in again.

“At this point, Watkins went into shock, his limbs began spasming and he lost consciousness. The nursing staff realised that he was going into cardiac arrest and began performing CPR, assisted by some of the prison officers who were present.

“A short time later, paramedic staff arrived and they took over efforts to resuscitate Watkins. He was carried out onto the landing to allow more space to treat him. This treatment involved continued CPR, and the use of a defibrillator to try to shock his heart back into rhythm as well as the provision of blood to him.

“But despite their best endeavours, however, it became apparent after a short space of time that ongoing medical intervention was futile, and the decision was made that further efforts to revive Watkins should cease, and so he was declared dead at 10.14 that morning.”

According to the prosecution, Gedel told a prison officer in the aftermath: “If I’ve killed him, you could be talking to someone famous.”

You can read back over all of our live coverage from the trial today here, and you can read about Gedel’s alleged wish of “a good night’s sleep” to Watkins here.

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