DISGRACELAND - Ian Watkins from Lostprophets: A Nu Metal Monster in the So-Called “Monster Mansion”

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

The story about Ian Watkins of Lostprophets might be the most disturbing I’ve come across in all my music history research. It involves the abuse of children and a monstrous abuse of power and fame. It also takes place in, among other places, an aptly named prison called “The Monster Mansion”, and like most great stories, it involves an unlikely hero and a twisted sort of justice. This episode will shock you.   This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including child sexual abuse. To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.disgracelandpod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to exclusive bonus content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠disgracelandpod.com/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Sign up for our newsletter and get the inside dirt on events, merch and other awesomeness - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠GET THE NEWSLETTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Jake and DISGRACELAND: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (formerly Twitter)  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook Fan Group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is exactly right. Elvis. How much you wait, Wanda? Right now, about 130. I'm at 183. We should race. No, I want to leave here with my original hip. On the podcast The Matchup with Alia, I pair prominent female athletes with unexpected guests.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. Please check the show notes for more information. Disgrace Land is a production of Double Elvis. The story about Ian Watkins from Lost Prophets, it might be the most disturbing story that I've come across in all of my music history research. It involves the sexual abuse of children,

and at its core a monstrous abuse of power and fame. But, as is the case with a lot of great stories, an unlikely hero emerges in this one. One who authorities ignored in favor of protecting their own. One who authorities laughed off in order to preserve some hometown pride. And one who may have saved countless children from the designs of a monster. A monster, Ian Watkins, from a band, lost profits, who made music, not particularly interesting music by my ears

and certainly not great music. Similar in its lack of greatness to the music that I played for you at the top of this show. That wasn't great music either. That was a preset loop from my Melotron called Richard Burton's Monster Mash, MK, 2. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights

to we are never, ever getting back together and why would I play you that specific slice of pre-travis cheese, could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on September 21st, 2012, and that was the day that Ian Watkins was arrested, an event that revealed to everyone the depths of this rock star's depravity, depraved behavior so dark and so extreme that to this day, it's still hard to understand. Ian Watkins' life as a rock star wound up with him doing time in one of the world's most notorious prisons, a place that housed serial killers,

a place that suited Ian Watkins, because it was a place that they called the Monster Mansion. On this episode, depravity, abuse, the Monster Mansion, an unlikely hero, and a new metal monster, Ian Watkins, from Lost Prophets. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. It's hard to know what Ian Watkins, singer of the Welsh new metal band Lost Profits, knew or understood about the effects of giving cocaine to an infant baby.

There was, and understandably is, little information to be found on the subject. You can find plenty of data about the effects of babies who were born addicted to cocaine from prenatal use of the drug by their mothers. These effects include lower birth rate, smaller head circumference, neurological impairment, and congenital heart defects, but like I said, little can be found on what kind of effects infants demonstrate when given cocaine after birth. Because who would do such a thing? Only a monster. Ian Watkins was this exact type of monster, and he was hell-bent on doing this exact type of atrocious thing. The question of whether or not cocaine would cause the infant to behave in a way that would

enhance the sex was what Ian was determined to find out. He needed to know. And to find out, he needed a baby. Finding a baby would not be a problem, not for Ian Watkins. Because for Ian Watkins, there were women, lots of women. Fans of lost profits. Many of them young mothers who would do anything for the black-clad frontman with the shock of angular emo bangs that they all swooned over. And for some, this meant agreeing to give up their children for unspeakable acts of depravity. These women agreed to do so in the letters that they wrote to Ian Watkins, in their emails, and in their DMs. Discussions with one woman in particular detailed the various ways in which she and the front man were going to sexually abuse her 10-month-old son. These messages are too disturbing to repeat.

But just imagine the literal worst harm of sexual. predator can unleash upon an infant and you'll be in the ballpark. And if you absolutely need to know, you can search the text of case number 62CA, linked from the show notes page on our website, but I wouldn't advise that. Explaining this behavior is nearly impossible. But at least some of it can be chalked up to the twisted fascination that some women had with Ian Watkins, who was a bona fide rock star. During the early and mid-odds, Lost Profits won a slew of UK music awards, including Best Band from Kerrang and Best Metal Act from NME.

The band had four top ten albums on the UK album charts, and it crossed over onto the alternative American charts with their 2004 hit Last Train Home. By 2011, Lost Profits had sold nearly four million albums, and Ian Watkins' vocals, stage presence, and dark and mysterious persona, were big reasons why. Picture big, chunky, corn-like metal riffs and high-energy UK punk-paced energy and emo vocals sung and screamed by a frontman with looks that many women considered handsome, dressed in low-slung girl jeans,

white belt, and tight black t-shirt, and an even tighter skull choker clenched around his neck. That was Ian Watkins. That was lost profits. At the moment, sometime around 2008, that dude, Ian Watkins, wasn't on stage. Instead, he was in a dark drug den of his own making, littered with the paraphernalia needed to ingest the wide array of drugs

Watkins indulged in on a regular basis. The spoon and syringe for the heroin that he not only injected into himself, but injected into lovers as a manifestation of his sexual aggression. For the cocaine, there were the bindles and the dirty dollar bills strewn about to snort the stimulant, which fueled the singer's craving to push his sexual boundaries. And there was the pooky, the bubble, the oil burner, whatever you wanted to call it, it was used to smoke crystal meth. And then there were the grimy cups with their insides pocked with hardened crystals from mostly dissolved GHB, the drug that Watkins used to fuel his near

constant quest for euphoria. All of it defined how Ian Watkins spent his days in between gigs. high or chasing a high that would supercharge his depraved sexual fantasies. At the moment, he had a months-long plan to use cocaine to ply an infant sexually so that he could... Okay, so this is uncharted territory for me as a storyteller. I'm not sure how to spell out in the style of this podcast anyways, the depths of Ian Watkins' crimes. So you're going to have to bear with me on the telling of this tale as I proceed with caution. The truth of this particularly disturbing part of the story, which is crucial to understanding what Ian Watkins did and how he was eventually brought to justice, is that incredibly, the

lost prophet singer was putting together a plan to rape an infant, and he was going to use cocaine for reasons that I still don't fully understand to help him do this. The cocaine wasn't just for him. Again, it was for the infant. Two infants, actually. Two babies. that belonged to two different women, both fans of the lost profits singer, both complicit in this crime. As for the more normal fans of lost profits, in their defense, aside from a couple

shady interviews with the band in which Ian Watkins coyly alludes to a darker side, there was little in the band's history, both on and off record that would point to this type of behavior from the band's frontman. So we can't point fingers at Ian Watkins' bandmates, and most don't. Members of Lost Profits have gone on to continue their careers in the music industry. One, bass player, Stuart Richardson, toured with Thursday last year. And Elon Rubin, who drummed for Lost Profits at one point, now plays in the Foo Fighters. On stage, Lost Profits promoted a concept Ian called Mega Loles. Loles, as in All the Laugh Out Louds.

It was as stupid as it sounds, but yes, it took off. By 2010, the Mega Loll's catchphrase was synonymous with the band itself. It meant, I gather, to take nothing seriously. A sort of millennial manifestation of new metal indifference. Drug, sex, rock and roll, and not giving a fuck. Lost profits performed in front of a giant Mega Lolls banner at their mainstage appearances at the Reading and Leeds festivals in 2010. They emblazoned T-shirts with the catchphrase and hawked them to their fans and gigging.

the phrase out of their shit-eating grins in interviews with the rock press. The goal of lost profits was to obtain fame by not giving a fuck. And the goal of their singer Ian Watkins was to use that fame to conduct unspeakable acts of sexual abuse against minors. And again, two women, two fans, were working with Ian Watkins, the rock star, to devise a plan to use cocaine to help him rape their infant children. I use the word rock star intentionally because Ian Watkins knew that without his rock star status, none of the depravity he hoped to achieve would be possible.

You feel it in your heart. I-R. Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must-have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists, like back in the day Pride. Come together, celebrate a lot. Take pride with you. Anytime. Just ask your smart speaker to play

IHart Pride Canada. Stream us on your phone. Or listen now. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you saw it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories

I'll be exploring the 14th season of family secrets. And just then, we felt the plain turn in the air. So much so that the bags are. under people's seats just kind of flew into the aisle. Each week, we dive headfirst into the complex power of secrecy, how it shapes our identities and relationships, and how it ultimately can reveal to us our truest selves. My daughter, she's pretending she doesn't know,

but is trying to cook and feed me and keep me alive because I wasn't eating anything, and me pretending like everything was fine. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door, and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How much you wait, Wanda? Right now, about 130. I'm at 183. We should race. No, I want to leave here with my original hips. On the podcast, the matchup with Alia, I pair prominent female athletes with unexpected guests.

On a recent episode, I sat down with undisputed boxing champ, Koresa Shields, and comedian Wanda Sykes to talk about Wanda's new movie Undercard, the art of trash talk and what it really means to be ladylike. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search the matchup with Alia and listen now. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. The identities of the two women who conspired with Ian Watkins are still unknown.

Their identities are kept secret primarily to protect the anonymity of their children who are the victims here. These two mothers, essentially groupies of Ian Watkins, are known only as B and P, B as in B, as in Breed. and P as in Phoebe, which is what we're going to call them for the purposes of this episode. Brianna and Phoebe. Before Brianna and Phoebe and the planned sexual abuse of their babies, there were other girls, other groupies, other victims, 16-year-olds. One whom the courts called T-Tee, and another was K.J. T-T was just 16, a virgin. Ian Watkins dressed her up in a schoolgirl uniform.

Court documents detailed the video he made of himself degrading T.T. after taking her virginity with extreme acts of sexual violence. As for K.J., the court docs are not any less graphic. K.J., also 16, was plied sexually by Ian Watkins with cocaine. As with T.T., the act was captured on video. Degrading children sexually was a pattern that Ian Watkins evidently established back in 2008. But back to Brianna and Phoebe. Ian Watkins met Brianna in 2011. And I have to jump ahead here in the story to clear something up. As this story progresses, you will hear how the monster Ian Watkins was eventually caught,

charged, convicted, and served justice. Now, there is no mystery to how this story ends, but it needs to be said now that Ian Watkins was officially convicted of conspiring to sexually assault children. However, the video detailed in the official court documents proves that Ian Watkins absolutely 100% did indeed sexually assault children, including a baby. Brianna's baby boy, who she brought to the K-West Hotel in London on April 2, 2012, and presented to Ian Watkins for the purposes of sex. The horrific abuse that followed was discovered on video.

As for Phoebe, court documents reveal text messages with Phoebe pledging hers and her baby daughter's lives to Ian Watkins. After Watkins texted Phoebe, if you belong to me, so does your baby. Phoebe responded with, understandable, a mother-daughter slave duo worshipping you. Watkins replied with, That's all she'll know, a life of filth. The text thread then devolves into the rock star and the groupie discussing the merits of fallacious, with infants, using drugs to ease the sexual friction with infants and forcing them into acts of bestiality. The evidence incredibly extends beyond conspiring to actual photographic images and Skype

video of Phoebe abusing her daughter for the pleasure of Ian Watkins. The events I just described took place in 2012. But back in 2008, Ian Watkins' girlfriend at the time, Joanne Magelix discovered that the rock star she was dating was sick in a way that was beyond belief. The saga with Joanne started back in 2006 with the DM. You up? Not only was Joanne up, Joanne was down. She was infatuated with Ian Watkins from Lost Prophets. So being on the receiving end of a direct message from him

was just about the most thrilling thing that could have happened to the 29-year-old from Doncaster in South Yorkshire back in 2006. And Joanne quickly fell for Ian. Her relationship began. But it wasn't long before her new famous rock star boyfriends' depravity became clear to her. Sometime around 2008, Ian Watkins told Joanne Imagelix that he was going to rape a baby of an obsessed fan, saying that his fans would allow him to do this, that they would, quote,

do anything for him. It was in December of 2008 when Joanne went to police. in South Wales and reported her famous boyfriend. But she didn't leave him, and nothing happened. In April of 2009, Joanne went back to South Wales authorities to inquire about the investigation. She was told by police that any investigation into the local frontman, Ian Watkins,

for sexual assault upon children, had been dropped. By 2010, Ian Watkins had shown Joanne abhorrent videos of children and animals being abused sexually. It is believed that it was sometime in and around these events when Joanne left Ian, but maintained some contact in order to gather evidence against him. It was Joanne's contention that if Welsh authorities weren't going to do anything about the monster fronting lost profits, then she would have to do it on her own. In 2011, Joanne emailed the Association of Chief Police Officers to allege that Watkins

was raping a child. And Joanne also contends that in 2011 she kept it. up efforts to gather evidence for Ian Watkins, playing the part of the co-conspirator with him. In one text to Watkins from that year, she wrote, part of me feels you get off on showing me stuff you can get away with, knowing that is what I've wanted since forever. Joanne signed off on another message to Ian, child molesters till we die.

Again, Joanne Magillix contends that this behavior was done in some sort of undercover effort to bring forth more evidence again. against Ian Watkins. It should be noted again that prior to these texts, Joanne had already gone to the police numerous times and was essentially ignored. Police later claimed their indifference toward Joanne's allegations was due to the fact that Joanne once made money as a sex worker. Police believed that Joanne was a spurned lover and that her allegations against the local rock star were fabricated because he had upset her. One officer said to Joanne, he must really have upset you.

But Joanne wouldn't be denied. She pressed on. She filmed herself opening images on her laptop that Ian Watkins had sent to her, graphic images of a girl under 16 being abused. And she brought those to the police. Still, incredibly, the police did nothing. They claimed the girl in the video was of age.

How the hell would they know? Why didn't the authorities at least investigate the video further to confirm the age of the girl in the video? Joanne didn't know the answer to that, so she took it a step further. In the fall of 2012, Joanne Magellick got wind of Ian Watkins' plan with one of the mothers he was conspiring with, either Brianna or Phoebe. And this time, Joanne called a different set of authorities, child services. To understand the wall that Joanne Magillix repeatedly ran into, were their efforts to bring attention to Ian Watkins' crimes. You have to understand what Ian Watkins' band Lost Profits meant to the city of Cardiff and to South Wales.

Lost Profits were hometown heroes. They were a band on the rise and there was no ceiling in sight. They sold millions of records, and their faces were all over the television in the UK, videos, interviews, festival appearances, and seemingly non-stop appearances at music award shows. Lost profits were an immense source of pride for their hometown. Aside from super furry animals or budgie, bands of consequence didn't really come out of South Wales. And unless you were part of a super niche subset of 90s Britpop, you didn't really care about super furry animals. And unless you were in Metallica or obsessed with obscure European metal from the 70s, you had no idea who Budgie was.

But you totally should. Check out the song Guts from their 1971 self-titled full length because it absolutely grooves. I digress. The point is that lost profits, aside from actress Catherine Zeta Jones, were the biggest thing to come out of South Wales since Elizabeth Taylor's fifth and sixth husband, Richard Burton. And the authorities weren't especially interested in women making claims of sexual abuse against their frontman.

Until the evidence of Ian Watkins' drug use became too obvious to ignore. And authorities were forced to raid his home. On September 21st, 2012, Ian Watkins' home in PontiPred, South Wales, was raided. It should be noted that police were acting not solely on information, if at all, from Joanne Magellix. Instead, they're acting on a drug warrant. Nonetheless, when they found Ian Watkins' laptop inside of his home, the intelligence officers who eventually cracked into it did so by typing in the password, I f*** kids.

We'll be right back after this word, work, word. Pride is like love. You feel it in your heart. IR. Radio, Canada's number one streaming app for radio and podcasts, including IHart Pride Canada, your favorite hits and must have party bangers, plus personalized and curated playlists like back in the day pride. Come together, celebrate love. Take pride with you anytime, anywhere. Just ask your smart speaker to play IHeart Pride Canada.

Stream us on your phone. Well, and listen now at iHeartRadio.ca. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you saw it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets.

And just then, we felt the plain turn in the air. So much so that the bag. so under people's seats just kind of flew into the aisle. Each week, we dive headfirst into the complex power of secrecy, how it shapes our identities and relationships, and how it ultimately can reveal to us our truest selves. My daughter, she's pretending she doesn't know, but is trying to cook and feed me and keep me alive

because I wasn't eating anything, and me pretending like everything was fine. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door, and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Joy is essential and it's also elusive, but now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, How to Coppe. If you're craving inspiration

to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Open your free IHeart Radio app. Search Joy 101 and listen now. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotfi is presented by CVS. The contents of Ian Watkins' laptop confirmed Joanne Magellick's worst fears. What authorities found was jarring and beyond belief. 27 terabytes of data, including the most severe and extreme acts of sexual abuse,

babies and dogs being defiled, young children, fans, a 14-year-old being sexually abused by Ian, split-screen footage of Ian and Phoebe molesting her infant child, with Ian referring to them both as his slave duo. By the end of 2012, the singer of Lost Prophets was arrested, behind bars in Cardiff, Wales, and awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a one-year-old, in possession and or distribution of indecent images of children in extreme animal pornography. In early 2013, incredibly, Joanne Magillac's was also arrested as the investigation into Ian Watkins expanded.

With the news of their frontman's arrest, Lost Prophets issued a statement expressing that no one in the band had any clue what Ian Watkins was up to, and that all were in a state of shock over the revelation. Later that year, authorities continued their investigation into Joanne, believing that the one-time girlfriend of Ian Watkins was guilty of similar crimes, when in reality it was Joanne who had been trying to get the police to investigate Watkins. By July of 2013, a trial date was set for Ian Watkins. But there would be no trial. Ian Watkins pleaded guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13,

but not to rape. Authorities accepted the plea, incredibly, ignoring the video evidence that literally showed Ian Watkins raping children. Again, a one-year-old. For his plea, Ian Watkins received a lighter sentence, and in 2013 was sent away for a 29-year prison term with parole eligibility after 18 years in the year 2013. Brianna and Phoebe were sentenced to 14 and 17 years, and by my count, one of them will be released next year in 2007.

With Ian Watkins behind bars, authorities then turned their attention fully to convicting Joanne Magillac's, who, incredibly, up until a year prior, have been the one person working hard to stop Ian Watkins' crimes. Joanne in January 2014 was formally charged with four counts of possession of indecent images, two counts of distributing an indecent image, and one count of encouraging another to distribute an indecent image. Just before this, lost profits formally announced that they would no longer continue as a ban. Joanne Magellix fought for her freedom in court. She claimed that she kept any illicit sexual imagery in her possession, for which she was being charged,

only in an attempt to gather evidence against Ian Watkins, again, for crimes that authorities at the time seemed almost entirely disinterested in. In court, the evidence of some pretty damning, explicit online conversations between Joanne and Ian came up. Joanne claims she spoke that way to play along with Ian in an effort to trap him. The jury also heard about Joanne first going to authorities

in 2008. The jury also heard about Joanne inquiring into the investigation again with authorities in 2009, about Joanne writing to the chief constable of the South Wales police in 2011 and how the chief constable didn't offer any help, about the officer claiming that the evidence that Joanne was then showing them, the evidence that she was now being charged with being in possession of, which was a video of Ian Watkins having sex with a child, about how when she initially brought that video to the police,

that the police did nothing about it because the police then believed that the girl Ian Watkins was having sex with on video was of age. But now the police were changing their tune. No, she was a child, and you, Joanne Magillix, had video of sex with that child, so now we're trying to put you in jail for it. Back then, when we could have done something

about stopping the man conducting the rape on the video, we did nothing, and that man was allowed to remain free and continue raping children. But now we feel bad about all that. So we're saying the exact opposite and trying to put you in prison because, well, that's how life works sometimes when you're in positions of authority

and have to cover your ass, I guess. So sorry, Joanne. The jury was then told how Joanne took the incredible step of dragging one of Ian Watkins's accomplices, either B or P, B, or P, B, or Feebe, down to the police headquarters herself and explained to the police that she and Ian Watkins, again, B or P, not Joanne,

that B or P and Ian were planning on raping her baby. And the cops essentially laughed the incident off saying to Joanne that Ian Watkins must have really upset you. They could have arrested Joanne on the spot for attempted murder. Because she replied, I'll put a bullet in his head to stop him from doing it. After that, things spiraled for Joanne. She overdosed numerous times. She even tried faking her own death to put herself out of reach from you know. Watkins. Still, she would not be denied. The court heard about how even after all of this,

in 2012, Joanne Magillix called child services to report Ian Watkins's crimes. On January 14, 2015, Joanne Magillix was acquitted on all charges. She explained to the press that the police were four years too late in that, quote, it's been me against the world, really. Me protecting the kids when everyone else call me a liar, a psycho. Yeah, many kids could have been saved if they'd have done their job. Police don't want to believe a local hero could be doing such terrific things. They've got to think, oh, it's a disgruntled ex-partner. Any excuse, lie after lie after lie.

And Joanne went on to say, I shouldn't be here just for doing the police's job that they couldn't be arsed to do. She was right and she was free. And Ian Watkins was behind bars. And not just in any old prison. In a prison that was as violent and extreme as the images they found on Ian Watkins' laptop.

And justice, actual justice, the biblical kind, was about to be served. The prison is older than most countries. It's been housing Britain's worst of the worst since 1594. It's officially known as H.M. Prison Wakefield. But unofficially, everyone calls it the Monster Mansion. Because, well, there's no better way to describe its prisoners than with the word monster. There was Harold Shipman, aka Doctor Death, one of England's most prolific serial killers,

a disgraced doctor who, it's believe, murdered between 200 and 250 of his patients. Shipman killed his unsuspecting patients, mostly little old ladies, with lethal injections of heroin. His motives are still unclear, but most believe he killed because the women reminded him of his own mother. After being found guilty in the year 2000, he was sentenced to life in prison and transferred to the Monster Mansion in 2003. Six months later, he killed himself. And there was Ian Huntley, one of the UK's most despised killers. He murdered two 10-year-old girls and then tried burning their bodies to hide the evidence. The search for the two missing girls was national news.

Ian's arrest made him infamous. Immediately, upon arriving at the monster mansion to serve his 40-year sentence, he became a target of other prisoners, prisoners who couldn't truck with a criminal, a famous one especially, who abused young kids. They grabbed Ian Huntley in the hospital wing of the prison, held him down and doused him with scalding hot boiling water. You could hear a quick blast of burning, curdling flesh. Huntley was badly injured, but he survived.

He also survived another attack afterward. This one, a quick slash to the neck with a shiv made out of a razor and a toothbrush. Huntley's attacker was a man named Damien Fokes, a prisoner who had already killed another child murderer in a separate prison attack. Ian Huntley survived that attack too, but eventually his number came due in the Monster Mansion. On February 26, 2006, while at work in the recycling wing of the prison, Ian Huntley fell. felt his brain bashing in from the blunt force trauma of a three-foot spiked metal pole being swung violently from behind by fellow inmate Anthony Russell. He bashed and bashed and bashed away at Ian Humpley's skull until he and Humpley were surrounded by blood. When he was done, he screamed out, I've done it!

His exclamation met with a round of cheers from the other inmates. Then there was Robert Maudsley, aka Hannibal the Cannibal. England's very own Hannibal Lecter. Maudsley is falsely said to have eaten the brains of his victims. Thus, the Hannibal Lecter comparison, but this is untrue. All Maudsley did was bludgeon one of his victims to death and left his body with a spoon sticking out of his crushed skull. He did this after being sentenced to the Monster Mansion to a fellow prisoner.

And for his crime and for the explosive violence that this prisoner was known for, Robert Maudsley was placed in solitary confinement in a cell made of plexiglass that looks eerily similar to the one Anthony Hopkins' character in Silence of the Lambs occupies. But that's where the similarities between Robert Maudsley and Hannibal Lecter end. Maudsley killed four men on the outside for different reasons than the actual Hannibal the cannibal killed. Maudsley did it out of a sense of vengeance. The men he was convicted of murdering were pedophiles, and the too many. murdered in prison, including the one he left with a spoon sticking out of his skull, were convicted child abusers. Robert Maudsley remains locked up in the Monster Mansion in solitary confinement

for fear of what he'll do to his fellow prisoners, particularly the child molesters. The Monster Mansion has another nickname, Peto Palace, due to the maximum security prison's high concentration of sex offenders. Nearly two-thirds of its population are there for sex crimes. The prisoners who aren't sex offenders are keenly aware of the prisoners who are, and most are hell-bent on executing violent vengeance, especially in the past few years. Since 2025, there has been a 72% rise in violence at the Monster Mansion. As in most prisons, there is a hierarchy at the Monster Mansion. Pedophiles are considered the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low. Many of the convicted sexes are,

offenders are held in what are called vulnerable prison units for their own protection, separated from the rest of the criminal population. It is believed that have held in standard wings with other prisoners that within time they'll be murdered. This is where Ian Watkins was held. However, even though he was housed in a vulnerable prison unit, mixing with the other prisoners from the general population was inevitable. Ian Watkins needed to use the phone.

The other prisoners sneered, but there was little they could do. The guards were on them, eyes like hawks at the phone bank. Most of the other prisoners knew Ian Watkins' game. He had women calling him regularly, and not just any women. Not angry, aggrieved ex-wives and girlfriends looking for answers on how to make it on the outside. No, Ian Watkins was an ex-rock star. He had groupies calling him and blowing him. him up in his ear, promising him all kinds of pleasures, orally satiating him sexually, and

the other prisoners hated him for it. They also hated him for what he did to those kids, babies, they said. The women on the other end of the phone listened as Ian explained that he didn't understand what the big deal was, this whole thing with the child abuse, that it was all just megaloles, something to laugh about. Ian Watkins' fellow prisoners weren't laughing. not when they learned that Watkins had amassed a trance of love letters in his cell from women on the outside still eager to connect with the disgraced frontman. They also learned that Watkins had somehow gotten his hands on a cell phone and was in regular contact with many of these women on the outside.

This was the action that they wanted in on. Or so Ian Watkins claimed when the guards found his phone buried in his asshole after a search. Watkins claimed his fellow inmates were forcing him to connect them with him. with his groupies. This was never proven, but it was one more mark against Ian Watkins. Dead man walking. Ian Watkins,

not only because of his crimes, but because of the attention from the women on the outside, because of the way he carried himself, because of his unrepentant attitude, was despised as a prisoner. Prisoners, especially those of means like Ian Watkins, will often pay for protection on the inside. In Watkins's case, the prisoners who could protect him,

the violent street gangsters, the organized crime members, the drug kingpins, they hated Ian Watkins so much that they just took his money and refused to protect him. And what was he, the wormy little ex-rockstar, going to do about it? He was tormented daily. Every interaction with a fellow inmate was caused for some sort of verbal abuse. It was only a matter of time, they said. And that time came in 2003. Ian Watkins lay alone on his cot in his cell.

Three men entered slowly. Ian Watkins wasn't going anywhere. They wanted it all. Money. Ian was rich. Drugs. Ian was still using. Women.

Ian had a line on groupies. But Ian Watkins, in reality, had none of those things. And the men beat him senseless and took a toilet brush they'd shaved down into a point and stabbed him in the side. They didn't stop there, and the beating continued. Fists, feet, screams, then the prison siren, guards and riot gear, shooting stun grenades into the cell to break up the beating. Ian Watkins was alive, barely, treated for his wounds, and quickly released back into the petto wing. But he wouldn't be safe for long. October 11th, They called at the monster mansion, but for Ian Watkins, they may as well have dubbed it Fear City,

because the fear was now all he knew. And there was no more fame and no more money. And there weren't even any more women to connect with. It was just one second after the other. One second after the other of constant fear. When was the next attack coming? And from where? Who it came from did nothing.

And there it was. Justice. The final attack. Ian Watkins, singer of lost prophets. The convicted pedophile lay dead on the floor of the monster mansion. Stabbed to death

in a surprise attack by two fellow monsters. Mega lulls. Mega disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan. And this is disgrace. All right, guys, thanks for hanging out for this episode of Disgraceland. This is a tough one, this Ian Watkins story, and the question of the week for this week, is, does this story about Ian Watkins and all of the depravity, is this the story that just upsets you the most of any rock star, true crime, music history, true crime story that you've heard?

is this the one that just revolts you entirely more than any other one? Let me know. 617-906-66-6638 voicemail and text. Consider some of those early episodes of Disgraceland on Jerry Lee Lewis, Big Lurch, perhaps, I don't know, there's a bunch. You can get into them. Let me know. Let's talk about them.

Voicemails, text, DMs at Disgracelampod. Email, disgracelampod at gmail.com. I get to get out of here. Here comes some credits. Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis, The Exactly Right Network, and IHeart Podcasts. Credits for this episode can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show.

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