Ian Watkins murder-accused told police ‘prison is a dog-eat-dog world’

Katie Dickinson – Press Association

One of the two prisoners accused of murdering paedophile Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins said he disposed of the knife used in the fatal stabbing because “prison is a dog-eat-dog world” and he “had to put his own safety first”.

The disgraced singer was attacked in his cell at high-security HMP Wakefield on October 11 last year.

Leeds Crown Court has heard Rico Gedel, 25, stabbed Watkins to death and Samuel Dodsworth, 44, helped him by disposing of the knife afterwards.

Prosecutors say both men are guilty of murder because Gedel carried out the attack and Dodsworth knew it was going to happen and assisted him.

Jurors heard that in his interview with police, Dodsworth said he was not involved in the attack and that Gedel passed him the blade after walking out of Watkins’ cell.

Dodsworth told officers he tried to give the knife back to Gedel, but panicked when he saw Watkins emerge from his cell with a large cut on his neck.

He said he then wrapped the knife in some tissue from his cell and threw it in a bin.

Dodsworth told officers: “If you’re a grass, you’re going to get cut up for it … when you’re in prison you look after yourself.”

He went on to say: “Prison is a dog-eat-dog world in there and I have to put my own safety first.

“I panicked and wrapped it in a tissue, and saw the bin and threw it in.”

Dodsworth told police: “I’ve got to look over my shoulder because I’m in for a sexual offence.”

He said he had never been violent in prison, adding: “The only wrongdoing I’ve ever done is hurt a woman, and that’s it.”

In transcripts of the interview read in court, Dodsworth said he saw Gedel looking “suspicious” before the attack, and as if he was going to rob someone.

He told police he wished he “had just moved somewhere else” at that point, adding he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Asked about whether he knew Watkins, Dodsworth said: “I know of him but he’s just another inmate to me which is just doing his time.”

He said he “didn’t dislike” the singer and had been in his cell before, adding that the two of them would sometimes “have a laugh and a joke”.

Dodsworth told police: “I knew he were a famous person and he was in for a sexual offence, but other than that … I knew he would have been high profile, he would have had all that money from fame.

“Sometimes he would get beaten, sometimes he wouldn’t.”

Asked about Watkins being beaten, he said: “Because it’s a high-risk prison. Even I’m expecting to get beat up one day before I leave that prison.”

He said he had had “general chit-chat” with Watkins in his cell, adding: “With this sort of situation I get a bit nervous myself.

“Since I’ve been in I’ve been looking over my shoulder because of my offence.

“Even though my crime isn’t as worse as what Mr Watkins’ is, it’s still a sexual offence.”

Dodsworth said Watkins “didn’t really mingle with lots of people” and there was only one inmate whose cell he went in regularly.

“The guy whose cell he goes in, they both used to chuck money in together to get frozen food so they can cook at the weekend,” he told police.

Dodsworth claimed he knew nothing about threatening notes sent to Watkins days before his death, but said: “I’ve known in the past Watkins has had notes passed to him.

“He’s had one before and that.”

Gedel, who was initially referred to by police as Rashid Gedel, and Dodsworth both deny murder and possession of a makeshift knife in prison.

Watkins was jailed for 29 years in December 2013, with a further six years on licence, after admitting a string of sex offences – including the attempted rape of a fan’s baby.

The trial continues.