Ian Watkins heard inmate say 'this is what paedos deserve' as 'throat was slashed'

One of the men on trial for the murder of disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins told jurors he said "this is what paedophiles deserve" as he "slashed his throat". Watkins, 48, died after an attack last October at HMP Wakefield, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for child sexual offences. Rico Gedel, 25, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court charged with murder alongside 43-year-old Samuel Dodsworth. The court heard Gedel alleges Dodsworth gave him the makeshift knife used in the attack. Giving evidence on Wednesday, Gedel described stabbing and slashing Watkins on October 11 last year. He told the court he believed he had been "set up" because he had repeatedly told prison officers of his "disgust" for sex offenders. He also claimed prison officers "knew I was going to do it". Gedel said he believed he needed to attack a sex offender in order to be moved off the wing and into segregation, and said he had previously told a probation worker he would do, Yorkshire Live reports. Speaking about his disgust for sex offenders, he said: "It makes me feel disgusted. No human should inflict such pain on anyone, whether they are male or female... "I'd like to say as well: the reason I feel so disgusted about sexual assaults, sexual assault is not something you can take away. It is not something that heals overnight, it is something people live with for the rest of their lives." The court heard Gedel was convicted of murder in 2023 and an appeal to overturn it was rejected by the Court of Appeal. He has since spent time in HMP Belmarsh, HMP Full Sutton and HMP Wakefield. He told jurors: "When you get found guilty of a crime you haven't committed and have to spend the rest of your life in prison, you have no hope or future. The things you learned along the way, all your hopes and dreams, you have to throw them away." Gedel said he had been both the aggressor and victim during violence in prisons. He said he felt the need to be in possession of weapons in prison because "Belmarsh is known for violence in prison, for me it was necessary". Gedel said: "The first time I met Watkins, obviously I'm in a prison I don't want to be in, surrounded by people I don't want to be 10 foot near. I don't want to be in touching distance with them - paedophiles and sex offenders. "It was within my first month, he was on the same wing. I knew he was a paedophile. When I went to Wakefield, I had friends with already on the wing from other prisons that were not sex offenders, so I needed to know who was in proximity and one of my friends told me who was exactly in my proximity and who was on my landing and who I needed to be aware of. It was probably well known [who Watkins] was." The court heard Gedel and Watkins had previously interacted while on another wing, with verbal abuse passed between them. Gedel said he called Watkins a "paedophile" and a "scumbag", with Watkins firing back racial abuse. He said he was eventually moved to B wing, and the cell next door to Watkins, for assaulting three prisoners, including one who he said was selling baby photographs. He said he became aware Watkins was next door to him when he heard him asking a prison officer to print off a photograph of a woman. Gedel said when he found out Watkins was in the cell next door, he "just started giving him verbal and he started giving verbal back". He said it was similar to the last time and said: "He was just calling me a s***stain. I remember that... It was a lot of racial slurs. Obviously I called him a scumbag and a paedophile." He said he visited another inmate the next day to help him get word to his previous wing about belongings that had been left and money he was owed there, which is when he saw Dodsworth. He said initially he was not going to disclose who had given him the weapon, as he did not want to be labelled a "snitch", but said: "I don't want to defend the type of person he is. I was given the weapon by Dodsworth." Gedel said: "Dodsworth came to Amjad [another inmate]. Initially I told him to 'go away.' I didn't want him around me at that moment, because I was very angry about my situation. He went away and he came back and I told him I needed a weapon. "I didn't tell him the reason. I needed a weapon because in my head, there was no other option, but to cause violence to get off the wing. We all left the cell." Gedel told the court he was given the weapon and went to his cell to debate using it. He said: "I was there, I was talking to myself, saying 'there are other ways to get off the wing', in the sense of, I can probably wait and hopefully speak to a governor, someone who is in charge. I was arguing with myself saying: 'Wait, or just get on with it.' Normally, when I speak myself into situations, it's hard to speak myself out of them." Gedel said he "doesn't think much" and is impulsive. He said: "Some of my friends say I've got a brain cell and a bag of skittles." He added: "My heart was saying: 'He deserves it, he's a paedophile, think of his victims'. My brain was saying: 'This isn't the thing to do'. It's like water and oil, it doesn't mix." Describing the attack, Gedel said: "The first person that popped into my mind was Watkins... There's no easy way to say it. I stabbed him in his neck, slashed him. It wasn't a poking motion, it was a slicing motion." Gedel said neither he or Watkins said anything when he went into his cell. He said: "I slashed his throat. Blood didn't immediately come out, so I slashed his ear. "I didn't think I got his ear, I thought I'd got his cheek, and I thought I'd got his neck, so I slashed him again and that's when he started bleeding. I said, 'This is what paedophiles deserve.'" Gedel said Wakins did not say anything back and added: "I don't think he could speak. It was like a mumbled speak, saying 'help'." He told the court he believed he was "set up". He said: "Every prison officer I interacted with, I told them my disgust of sex offenders and said 'I can't be in this prison, I don't know how long I'm going to last.' "Every single time I assaulted someone, it was not minor. I was assaulting a lot of sex offenders... When you look at the situation, the response of the prison officers, they knew I was going to do it." He added: "They only knew I'd done it because they knew I was the only person to do it. The first officer, he knew before Watkins even told him. They knew how I felt about sex offenders. "I'm not here to prove my innocence. I admit to what's happened. I take full responsibility for what happened, whether that was the intent or not. But the prison officers are just as much to blame as I am." The trial continues.