When Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins was arrested a year ago, I was shocked. I never imagined that I would be sitting here a year later writing out the results of his trial.
In the past year it's become clear that Ian Watkins committed several child related sex crimes. He was denied bail and has been awaiting trial in prison all year. He was, at one point, placed on suicide watch. Around the same time, the rest of the Lostprophets band publicly announced their break up.
After pleading guilty to a long list of sex crimes involving children including sexual assault and creating child pornography, Ian Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in prison with another 6 years on license. Identified only as "Woman A" and "Woman B", two mothers accused of participating in his abuse of their children were sentenced to 14 and 17 years respectively.
I can only hope this horrific story is over and Ian will get some much needed help in the coming years. I also hope that the shock and pain will ease for the other members of Lostprophets and in time they will be able to move in new directions with the same unwavering support that they've seen in the last year.
