Ian Watkins

[shellie]

Have you seen Lee Gazes twitter recently? He's vile, in my opinion! They seemed like nice lads but I have serious doubts about how nice they actually are and how much they actually knew. Apparently there were Internet rumours for a long time about how he 'liked them young' and I do wonder how much of a blind eye was turned to keep the money rolling in.

It reminds me of a group I used to like back in the day. The 'bassist' (I say this because it's widely believed he just mimed playing it) had a reputation for going with young girls...not as heinous as Watkins but definitely under the legal age. He left the band and while they couldn't legally comment because of reasons, it was made clear they didn't realise about a lot of stuff he did. The problem with this is even the mums of the band knew what he was like and if they were in places the band was in and saw him sniffing around young girls, they got them right out of the way, yet to this day, even when called out on it, the band deny it.

They aren't the only one's either. I used to follow a lot of Warped bands back in the day and it would be easier to name a band who hadn't had at least one member accused. Of the one's who were named, more often than not, their bands played dumb. If it's well known among fans, then I guarantee a band knows. With LP, I'm guessing they knew he was into weird stuff...whether they knew how young, I don't know but they definitely knew it wasn't always legal. The fact people are being threatened online does makes me think they are worried someone could say something incriminating now he is gone, and they hope this is enough to keep them quiet.

 

[upyernelly]

I read that when they travelled together the band stayed in a seperate hotel to Ian. I wonder if that was the band or Ian’s choice?

 

[HotesTilaire]

It sounds like he and the band were living separate lives in the end, from what I’ve read. Probably tied in to him being a massive drug fiend pain in the ass more than anything.
I wonder if his family thought it was “the drugs” which made him into a pedalo, if he hadn’t got into the rock and roll lifestyle he’d have been ok (I think there was a risk of offending either way myself).

 

[MaineCoonMama]

Redhanded podcast did a really good in-depth episode on Watkins a few years ago, they re-released last week so it's on their recent feed if anyone is interested.
It's a tough listen, especially toward the end but I highly recommend it as they did a great job on what must have been a really awful topic to research and present.

 

[Archduchess of Luxembourg]

Redhanded podcast did a really good in-depth episode on Watkins a few years ago, they re-released last week so it's on their recent feed if anyone is interested.
It's a tough listen, especially toward the end but I highly recommend it as they did a great job on what must have been a really awful topic to research and present.

Where can I find that? I'm inept when it comes to this kind of thing!

I'm quite sure they knew a good amount of what he was up to - probably not the ages of the children involved but definitely that he was skirting with legality (if not morality) of who he was getting involved with. I remember rumours that he was selling himself on a website, including very graphic photos and I managed to find said website and I am not great when it comes to the Internet etc so if I managed to find it - proving that rumour to be true - I'm sure they knew what he was up to in many ways.

My opinion is that if they truly know nothing, the best thing would be to stay quiet and deal with any accusations privately, rather than threatening people online. The person Lee Gaze is in a spat with has said 'I have the receipts' and is willing to take him on in court and I reckon you wouldn't do that unless you really, really had proof given the severity of Watkins crimes and how serious the nature of that kind of libel actually is.

ETA @shellie what band was it??

 

[Tinkerbell cat]

I wondered this week if they would ever in time release an updated mug shot of him, in recent years.
I’d be interested to see just what he looked like in the end, what his time in prison did to him towards the end, appearance wise. He was always an arrogant hole and full of himself

I was happy to read his last prison attack left the b with nerve damage

I wondered what he looked like too as from reading different things online his appearance seemed to change with weight going up and down and then having to buy black hair dye to cover his receding grey hair. He totally loved himself at one point, as you say an arrogant hole.

 

[Tinkerbell cat]

This is a reply to the commenter that said they didn’t understand how / why IW mother had anything to do with him after what he’s done. I feel it’s very easy to be sat on the side lines stating what you would and wouldn’t do in that situation, until you’re actually in that situation. I have found out a very close friend of mine was caught with cat A CSA pics and videos on their devices and it’s broken my heart. I have not done this but everything in my being is telling me to call them, one minute I feel in denial like it must be a misunderstanding, are they ok? The next minute absolutely sickened because it’s true, no misunderstandings. Caught red handed with evidence and even pled guilty. It’s like mental torture, heartbreak and grief mixed into one. So god knows how it feels as a mother. She was likely highly manipulated by him too. I don’t even judge her you know, from her decline in the past 13 yrs after his arrest, he ruined her life too. He single handedly ruined so many peoples lives and had not shown not 1 bit of remorse.

I saw that some of his mothers neighbours said they rarely see her, she doesn't leave the house much.
Its easy to say if that was my son he would be disowned etc but I guess until you are in that kind of situation (hopefully never) then you won't really know. Like you mentioned with your own situation, you must go through a lot of emotions - denial, sickened, sadness, anger. I would say there has been a lot of manipulation from him too, the fact he still had contact with so many 'groupies' 'girlfriends' whatever they want to be called just shows how even though he might have been in prison, he really wasn't for changing.

That's horrific. The guy asking the questions, is he a member of the band?

I think it's absolute madness he was allowed to have young female visitors in prison, given what he was convicted of. Of course he was going to try and groom them. I think woman A and woman B are as bad as him, but also think that there was a power imbalance given that he was famous, and he clearly groomed them in some ways. Not saying that as an excuse for what they did at all.

I only saw this interview a day or two after he was killed, and then I saw Lee Gaze commenting under it so fell down a bit of a rabbit hole. I think the interview was during a time when people wanted to try and be cool and edgy in interviews, although IW definitely knew what he was saying in that. Just a total piece of tit who I think really believed he would never get caught.

 

[Ametrine]

I wonder if his family thought it was “the drugs” which made him into a pedalo, if he hadn’t got into the rock and roll lifestyle he’d have been ok (I think there was a risk of offending either way myself).

I read an old tabloid interview with his stepdad last week where he does blame drugs for Ian's decline and crimes.

 

[duckdinner]

I read that when they travelled together the band stayed in a seperate hotel to Ian. I wonder if that was the band or Ian’s choice?

In this article from The Times ( https://archive.is/7Tayq ) one of their managers (who was also Ian's ex) says that they were all staying at the same hotel the night of one of the meetings with one of the mothers

 

[Cat87]

Where can I find that? I'm inept when it comes to this kind of thing!

I'm quite sure they knew a good amount of what he was up to - probably not the ages of the children involved but definitely that he was skirting with legality (if not morality) of who he was getting involved with. I remember rumours that he was selling himself on a website, including very graphic photos and I managed to find said website and I am not great when it comes to the Internet etc so if I managed to find it - proving that rumour to be true - I'm sure they knew what he was up to in many ways.

My opinion is that if they truly know nothing, the best thing would be to stay quiet and deal with any accusations privately, rather than threatening people online. The person Lee Gaze is in a spat with has said 'I have the receipts' and is willing to take him on in court and I reckon you wouldn't do that unless you really, really had proof given the severity of Watkins crimes and how serious the nature of that kind of libel actually is.

ETA @shellie what band was it??

Yes him selling himself online was absolutely true, after his arrest the link to the site was put on a forum I was in, and unfortunately I saw it.
He wasn’t hiding his identity or anything…. Very brazen with it.

 

[Padparadascha]

Yes him selling himself online was absolutely true, after his arrest the link to the site was put on a forum I was in, and unfortunately I saw it.
He wasn’t hiding his identity or anything…. Very brazen with it.

Selling himself....like arranging meetings for sex or was it webcam stuff? Who was his target customer base. ..ive so many questions!

 

[MaineCoonMama]

Where can I find that? I'm inept when it comes to this kind of thing!

I'm quite sure they knew a good amount of what he was up to - probably not the ages of the children involved but definitely that he was skirting with legality (if not morality) of who he was getting involved with. I remember rumours that he was selling himself on a website, including very graphic photos and I managed to find said website and I am not great when it comes to the Internet etc so if I managed to find it - proving that rumour to be true - I'm sure they knew what he was up to in many ways.

My opinion is that if they truly know nothing, the best thing would be to stay quiet and deal with any accusations privately, rather than threatening people online. The person Lee Gaze is in a spat with has said 'I have the receipts' and is willing to take him on in court and I reckon you wouldn't do that unless you really, really had proof given the severity of Watkins crimes and how serious the nature of that kind of libel actually is.

ETA @shellie what band was it??

If you have Spotify or Apple Podcasts app you can just type it in the search bar.


Or here. It goes for about an hour.

 

[Cat87]

Selling himself....like arranging meetings for sex or was it webcam stuff? Who was his target customer base. ..ive so many questions!

I got the impression it was webcam stuff. Some really grotesque photos etc. I dread to think who would have been interested in that, more weirdos.

But was the fact there was no hiding who he was, his band was pretty popular at the time, and his tattoos making it very obvious it was him

 

[Ametrine]

I got the impression it was webcam stuff. Some really grotesque photos etc. I dread to think who would have been interested in that, more weirdos.

But was the fact there was no hiding who he was, his band was pretty popular at the time, and his tattoos making it very obvious it was him

It's like he wanted to get caught.

 

[Iosphere]

It's like he wanted to get caught.

I remember reading that he said that it all came too easy I.e. women because he was a good looking frontman of a successful band, so to feed him boredom/fetish he looked to something more extreme and harder to obtain. He was so brazen towards the end, sickening.

 

[sam0206]

Considering his status he must have known deep down this would be the ending. No matter how arrogant he was

 

[Reversible Octopus]

I've mentioned on the Real Life Crime thread before but my daughters Dad (separated over a decade, thankfully) recently plead guilty to downloading and purchasing over 200 images and videos - Cat A - and it came out that during the time he was accessing it he was heavily using drugs like crack coccaine, etc. Whilst I am sure most crack users don't do horrid tit like that I wonder if there's a link between dirty drugs creating dirty ducked up minds and sexual deviance.

FYI. He got a slap on the wrist, basically. Community service and signing the register - and SS let him have supervised access with our daughter once a week.

 

[MissTeddy]

I've mentioned on the Real Life Crime thread before but my daughters Dad (separated over a decade, thankfully) recently plead guilty to downloading and purchasing over 200 images and videos - Cat A - and it came out that during the time he was accessing it he was heavily using drugs like crack coccaine, etc. Whilst I am sure most crack users don't do horrid tit like that I wonder if there's a link between dirty drugs creating dirty ducked up minds and sexual deviance.

FYI. He got a slap on the wrist, basically. Community service and signing the register - and SS let him have supervised access with our daughter once a week.

Despite being a long time user of this thread i didn't know that Octupus. How awful and I'm so so sorry you had to go through that. I can't imagine how traumatic it must have been to send your child for access. Once again in this country the wants and desires of a man (any man) trumps the wants, rights and needs of women and children.

 

[bonesmccoy]

I had to report my ex last year after I found out from his own (adult) daughter that he had sexually assaulted his new girlfriend’s daughter. Not one person had done anything about it so I contacted social services who got the police to investigate but nothing came of it, as far as I know the girlfriend is still with him and I reckon they got the daughter to go back on what she said. ducked up.

 

[HotesTilaire]

I had to report my ex last year after I found out from his own (adult) daughter that he had sexually assaulted his new girlfriend’s daughter. Not one person had done anything about it so I contacted social services who got the police to investigate but nothing came of it, as far as I know the girlfriend is still with him and I reckon they got the daughter to go back on what she said. ducked up.

This is the thing, everyone expects a “monster” who looks and acts like Watkins but lots of them are just “normal” and “enablers”.