One of two inmates accused of murdering former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins at HMP Wakefield refused to attend his first Crown Court appearance on video link from the jail.
Rashid Gedel, 25, who was referred to as Rico Gedel during the hearing, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, are charged with murder over the alleged attack on Saturday morning.
Emergency services were sent to the prison in West Yorkshire but disgraced rock star Watkins who was serving a 29-year sentence for child sex offences, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Watkins, who pleaded guilty of his crimes in 2013, died from blood loss after his throat was said to be slashed.
Police and medics rushed to the scene but the 48-year-old could not be saved.
On Tuesday both men were due to make their first appearance before a Crown Court judge.
Dodsworth appeared via video link from HMP Wakefield, but Leeds Crown Court heard Gedel had refused to attend remotely.
Prosecutor Tom Storey KC said: ‘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 until their next appearance at the same court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on November 12.
Judge Guy Kearl, the Recorder of Leeds, set a provisional date of May 5 for the trial, which is expected to take two to three weeks.
The disgraced singer was serving a 35-year sentence in Wakefield Prison after being convicted of 13 child sex offences in 2013, including three counts of sexual assault involving children and for conspiring to rape a fan’s 11-month-old baby.
In a statement on Saturday after his death, police said: ‘Detectives have charged two men with murder after the death of a prisoner at HMP Wakefield on Saturday.
‘Ian Watkins aged 48 was pronounced dead after being seriously assaulted at HMP Wakefield on Saturday morning (11 October).
‘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 were not aware of the depths of Watkins’ depravity when they raided his Pontypridd home in September 2012 for drugs, but after his computer, mobile phones and storage devices were seized, his crimes were unearthed and he was charged.
During his 15 years as lead singer of Lostprophets, Watkin used his status to prey on fans, with two mothers offering up their babies to be abused.
His two co-defendants received sentences of 14 and 17 years, with news coming this morning one of these mothers is making a fresh bid for freedom.
In court at the time of his sentencing, the ex-musician was described as ‘a determined and committed paedophile’, and Lord Justice Christopher Pitchford said his acts were ‘shocking’.
In 2014, Watkins was refused the right to appeal against his 35-year sentence. Lawyers for Watkins claimed he should have his jail term cut because his last-minute guilty plea spared a jury from having to watch his home-made child pornography.
Among the disturbing videos due to be shown at his trial included his attempted rape of a baby and a webcam chat in which he instructed a crazed fan to abuse her child.
Lord Justice Pitchford said on the refusal: ‘These were offences against infant children of such shocking depravity that a very lengthy sentence of imprisonment was demanded.
‘It is not demonstrated the total sentence of 29 years together with the extended licence period was arguably manifestly excessive. Accordingly, the application in his case is refused.’
Watkins’ Lostprophets co-founder Lee Gaze recently spoke out in the wake of his death, responding to fans on social media.
After Watkins’ guilty plea in December 2013, Gaze, talking of the band’s horror-stricken reaction, said: ‘There was two sets of it [shock] because there were the accusations – which was one thing.
‘And then there was the actual, “Yeah I did do it” which was a year later. He dragged that out for a year, so we got hit by it twice.’
He added: ‘How could you know? How would you know?
‘Who would disclose such a thing to five people, who between them have eight children? You just wouldn’t because they would be killed on the spot.’
The original version of this article was published on October 13.
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