Ian Watkins from Lostprophets: A Nu Metal Monster in the So-Called “Monster Mansion”

The story about Ian Watkins of Lostprophets might be the most disturbing I’ve come across in all my music history research. It involves the abuse of children and a monstrous abuse of power and fame. It also takes place in, among other places, an aptly named prison called “The Monster Mansion”, and like most great stories, it involves an unlikely hero and a twisted sort of justice. This episode will shock you. This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including child sexual abuse. To see the full list of contributors, see the show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.disgracelandpod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://cms.megaphone.fm/organizations/c83125d2-8508-11ed-bd28-ff0aff7ee233/podcasts/efca2ef8-85f9-11ed-8fe3-bb208936046f/episodes/29bc673e-85fa-11ed-9d9c-cffe44583488/www.disgracelandpod.com. To listen to Disgraceland ad free and get access to exclusive bonus content and more, become a Disgraceland All Access member at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠disgracelandpod.com/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. disgracelandpod.com/membership Sign up for our newsletter and get the inside dirt on events, merch and other awesomeness - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠GET THE NEWSLETTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/doubleelvis/disgraceland-email-newsletter Follow Jake and DISGRACELAND: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/disgracelandpod/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@disgracelandpod ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/disgracelandpod (formerly Twitter) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook Fan Group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/groups/491024204626127/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠ https://tiktok.com/disgracelandpod See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

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• 2:11Speaker 05

  This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. Please check the show notes for more information. DisgraceLand is a production of Double Elvis.

• 2:33Jake Brennan?

  The story about Ian Watkins from Lost Profits, it might be the most disturbing story that I've come across in all of my music history research. It involves the sexual abuse of children, and at its core, a monstrous abuse of power and fame. But, as is the case with a lot of great stories, an unlikely hero emerges in this one. One who authorities ignored in favor of protecting their own. One who authorities laughed off in order to preserve some hometown pride. And one who may have saved countless children from the designs of a monster. A monster Ian Watkins, from a band, Lost Profits, who made music?

• 3:17Jake Brennan?

  Not particularly interesting music by my ears, and certainly not great music. Similar in its lack of greatness to the music that I played for you at the top of this show. That wasn't great music either. That was a preset loop from my Mellotron, called Richard Burton's Monster Mash MK2. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," and why would I play you that specific slice of pre-Travis cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the number one song in America on September 21st, 2012. And that was the day that Ian Watkins was arrested. An event that revealed to everyone the depths of this rock star's depravity.

• 4:01Jake Brennan?

  Depraved behavior so dark and so extreme that, to this day, it's still hard to understand. Ian Watkins' life as a rock star wound up with him doing time in one of the world's most notorious prisons. A place that housed serial killers. A place that suited Ian Watkins. Because it was a place that they called "The Monster Mansion." On this episode, depravity, abuse, The Monster Mansion, an unlikely hero, and a new metal monster, Ian Watkins from Lost Profits. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is DisgraceLand.

• 5:11Jake Brennan?

  It's hard to know what Ian Watkins, singer of the Welsh nu-metal band Lost Profits, knew or understood about the effects of giving cocaine to an infant baby.

• 5:24Jake Brennan?

  There was, and understandably is, little information to be found on the subject. You can find plenty of data about the effects of babies who are born addicted to cocaine from prenatal use of the drug by their mothers. These effects include lower birth rate, smaller head circumference, neurological impairment, and congenital heart defects. But, like I said, little can be found on what kind of effects infants demonstrate when given cocaine after birth. Because who would do such a thing? Only a monster. Ian Watkins was this exact type of monster. And he was hell-bent on doing this exact type of atrocious thing.

• 6:05Jake Brennan?

  The question of whether or not cocaine would cause the infant to behave in a way that would enhance the sex was what Ian was determined to find out. He needed to know. And to find out, he needed a baby. Finding a baby would not be a problem. Not for Ian Watkins. Because for Ian Watkins, there were women. Lots of women. Fans of Lost Profits. Many of them young mothers who would do anything for the black-clad frontman with the shock of angular emo bangs that they all swooned over. And for some, this meant agreeing to give up their children for unspeakable acts of depravity. These women agreed to do so in the letters that they wrote to Ian Watkins, in their

• 6:49Jake Brennan?

  emails, and in their DMs. Discussions with one woman in particular detailed the various ways in which she and the frontman were going to sexually abuse her 10-month-old son. These messages are too disturbing to repeat, but just imagine the literal worst harm a sexual predator can unleash upon an infant, and you'll be in the ballpark. And if you absolutely need to know, you can search the text of "case #62CA", linked from the show notes page on our website, but I wouldn't advise that.

• 7:24Jake Brennan?

  Explaining this behavior is nearly impossible. But at least some of it can be chalked up to the twisted fascination that some women had with Ian Watkins, who was a bona fide rock star. During the early and mid-aughts, Lost Profits won a slew of UK music awards, including Best Band from Kerrang! and Best Metal Act from NME. The band had four top-10 albums on the UK Album Charts, and it crossed over onto the Alternative American Charts with their 2004 hit, Last Train Home. By 2011, Lost Profits had sold nearly 4 million albums, and Ian Watkins' vocals, stage presence, and dark and mysterious persona were big reasons why.

• 8:08Jake Brennan?

  Picture big, chunky, corn-like metal riffs and high-energy UK punk-paced energy and emo vocals sung and screamed by a frontman with looks that many women considered handsome, dressed in low-slung girl jeans, white belt, and tight black t-shirt, and an even tighter skull choker clenched around his neck. That was Ian Watkins. That was Lost Profits.

• 8:32Jake Brennan?

  At the moment, sometime around 2008, that dude, Ian Watkins, wasn't on stage. Instead, he was in a dark drug den of his own making, littered with the paraphernalia needed to ingest the wide array of drugs Watkins indulged in on a regular basis. The spoon and syringe for the heroin that he not only injected into himself, but injected into lovers as a manifestation of his sexual aggression. For the cocaine, there were the bindles and the dirty dollar bills strewn about to snort the stimulant, which fueled the singer's craving to push his sexual boundaries. And there was the pokey, the bubble, the oil burner, whatever you wanted to call it, it was used to smoke crystal meth.

• 9:16Jake Brennan?

  And then there were the grimy cups with their insides pocked with hardened crystals from mostly dissolved GHB, the drug that Watkins used to fuel his near-constant quest for euphoria. All of it defined how Ian Watkins spent his days in-between gigs, high or chasing a high that would supercharge his depraved sexual fantasies.

• 9:40Jake Brennan?

  At the moment, he had a months-long plan to use cocaine to ply an infant sexually so that he could... Okay, so this is uncharted territory for me as a storyteller. I'm not sure how to spell out, in the style of this podcast anyways, the depths of Ian Watkins's crimes. So, you're gonna have to bear with me on the telling of this tale as I proceed with caution. The truth of this particularly disturbing part of the story, which is crucial to understanding what Ian Watkins did and how he was eventually brought to justice, is that incredibly, The Lost Prophet singer was putting together a plan to rape an infant. And he was gonna use cocaine, for reasons that I still don't fully understand, to help him do this.

• 10:24Jake Brennan?

  And the cocaine wasn't just for him. Again, it was for the infant. Two infants, actually. Two babies that belonged to two different women, both fans of The Lost Prophet singer, both complicit in this crime. As for the more normal fans of Lost Prophet, in their defense, aside from a couple shady interviews with the band in which Ian Watkins coyly alludes to a darker side, there was little in the band's history, both on and off-record, that would point to this type of behavior from the band's frontman. So we can't point fingers at Ian Watkins' bandmates, and most don't. Members of Lost Prophet have gone on to continue their careers in the music industry.

• 11:05Jake Brennan?

  One, bass player Stuart Richardson, toured with Thursday last year. And Elon Rubin, who drummed for Lost Prophet at one point, now plays in the Foo Fighters. Onstage, Lost Prophet promoted a concept Ian called "Mega Lols." "Lols," as in "all the laugh-out-louds." It was as stupid as it sounds, but yes, it took off. By 2010, the "Mega Lols" catchphrase was synonymous with the band itself. It meant, I gather, to "take nothing seriously." A sort of millennial manifestation of new metal indifference. Drug, sex, rock and roll, and not giving a fuck. Lost Prophet performed in front of a giant "Mega Lols" banner at their main...

• 11:50Jake Brennan?

  Mainstage appearances at the Reading and Leeds festivals in 2010. They emblazoned T-shirts with the catchphrase and hawked them to their fans and giggled the phrase out of their shit-eating grins in interviews with the rock press. The goal of Lost Prophets was to obtain fame by not giving a fuck. And the goal of their singer, Ian Watkins, was to use that fame to conduct unspeakable acts of sexual abuse against minors. And again, two women, two fans, were working with Ian Watkins, the rock star, to devise a plan to use cocaine to help him rape their infant children. I use the word "rock star" intentionally because Ian Watkins knew that without his

• 12:33Jake Brennan?

  rock star status, none of the depravity he hoped to achieve would be possible.

• 13:03Speaker 07

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• 13:33Jake Brennan?

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• 14:10Jake Brennan?

  The identities of the two women who conspired with Ian Watkins are still unknown. Their identities are kept secret primarily to protect the anonymity of their children, who are the victims here. These two mothers, essentially groupies of Ian Watkins, are known only as B and P. B as in Brianna and P as in Phoebe, which is what we're going to call them for the purposes of this episode: Brianna and Phoebe. Before Brianna and Phoebe and the planned sexual abuse of their babies, there were other girls, other groupies, other victims: 16-year-olds. One whom the courts called TT and another was KJ. TT was just 16, a virgin.

• 14:55Jake Brennan?

  Ian Watkins dressed her up in a schoolgirl uniform. Court documents detail the video he made of himself degrading TT after taking her virginity with extreme acts of sexual violence. As for KJ, the court docs are not any less graphic. KJ, also 16, was plied sexually by Ian Watkins with cocaine. As with TT, the act was captured on video. Degrading children sexually was a pattern that Ian Watkins evidently established back in 2008. But back to Brianna and Phoebe. Ian Watkins met Brianna in 2011. And I have to jump ahead here in the story to clear something up.

• 15:36Jake Brennan?

  As this story progresses, you will hear how the monster Ian Watkins was eventually caught, charged, convicted, and served justice. Now, there is no mystery to how this story ends, but it needs to be said now that Ian Watkins was officially convicted of conspiring to sexually assault children. However, the video detailed in the official court documents proves that Ian Watkins absolutely 100% did indeed sexually assault children, including a baby.

• 16:10Jake Brennan?

  Brianna's baby boy, who she brought to the K West Hotel in London on April 2nd, 2012, and presented to Ian Watkins for the purposes of sex. The horrific abuse that followed was discovered on video. As for Phoebe, court documents reveal text messages with Phoebe pledging hers and her baby daughter's lives to Ian Watkins. After Watkins texted Phoebe, "If you belong to me, so does your baby." Phoebe responded with, "Understandable, a mother-daughter slave duo worshipping you." Watkins replied with, "That's all she'll know, a life of filth." The text thread then devolves into the rock star and the groupie discussing the merits of fellatio with infants,

• 16:55Jake Brennan?

  using drugs to ease the sexual friction with infants and forcing them into acts of bestiality. The evidence incredibly extends beyond conspiring to actual photographic images and Skype video of Phoebe abusing her daughter for the pleasure of Ian Watkins. The events I just described took place in 2012. But back in 2008, Ian Watkins' girlfriend at the time, Joanne Majulics, discovered that the rock star she was dating was sick in a way that was beyond belief. The saga with Joanne started back in 2006 with a DM. "You up?"

• 17:39Jake Brennan?

  Not only was Joanne up, Joanne was down. She was infatuated with Ian Watkins from Lost prophets. So being on the receiving end of a direct message from him was just about the most thrilling thing that could have happened to the 29-year-old from Doncaster in South Yorkshire back in 2006. And Joanne quickly fell for Ian. A relationship began. But it wasn't long before her new famous rock star boyfriend's depravity became clear to her. Sometime around 2008, Ian Watkins told Joanne Majulics that he was going to rape a baby of an obsessed fan, saying that his fans would allow him to do this, that they would quote, "do anything for him."

• 18:21Jake Brennan?

  It was in December of 2008 when Joanne went to police in South Wales and reported her famous boyfriend. But she didn't leave him, and nothing happened. In April of 2009, Joanne went back to South Wales authorities to inquire about the investigation. She was told by police that any investigation into the local frontman Ian Watkins for sexual assault upon children had been dropped.

• 18:46Jake Brennan?

  By 2010, Ian Watkins had shown Joanne abhorrent videos of children and animals being abused sexually. It is believed that it was sometime in and around these events when Joanne left Ian, but maintained some contact in order to gather evidence against him. It was Joanne's contention that if Welsh authorities weren't going to do anything about the monster fronting lost profits, then she would have to do it on her own. In 2011, Joanne emailed the Association of Chief Police Officers to allege that Watkins was raping a child. And Joanne also contends that in 2011 she kept up efforts to gather evidence from Ian Watkins, playing the part of the co-conspirator with him.

• 19:29Jake Brennan?

  In one text to Watkins from that year, she wrote, "Part of me feels you get off on showing me stuff you can get away with, knowing that is what I've wanted since forever." Joanne signed off on another message to Ian, "Child molesters till we die."

• 19:46Jake Brennan?

  Again, Joanne Magelix contends that this behavior was done in some sort of undercover effort to bring forth more evidence against Ian Watkins. It should be noted again that prior to these texts, Joanne had already gone to the police numerous times and was essentially ignored. Police later claimed their indifference toward Joanne's allegations was due to the fact that Joanne once made money as a sex worker. Police believe that Joanne was a spurned lover and that her allegations against the local rock star were fabricated because he had upset her. One officer said to Joanne, "He must really have upset you." But Joanne wouldn't be denied. She pressed on.

• 20:28Jake Brennan?

  She filmed herself opening images on her laptop that Ian Watkins had sent to her. Graphic images of a girl under sixteen being abused. And she brought those to the police. Still, incredibly, the police did nothing. They claimed the girl in the video was of age. How the hell would they know? Why didn't the authorities at least investigate the video further to confirm the age of the girl in the video? Joanne didn't know the answer to that. So she took it a step further. In the fall of 2012, Joanne Magelix got wind of Ian Watkins's plan with one of the mothers he was conspiring with, either Rihanna or Phoebe.

• 21:10Jake Brennan?

  And this time, Joanne called a different set of authorities: Child Services. To understand the wall that Joanne Magelix repeatedly ran into with her efforts to bring attention to Ian Watkins's crimes, you have to understand what Ian Watkins's band Lost Profits meant to the city of Cardiff and to South Wales. Lost Profits were hometown heroes. They were a band on the rise and there was no ceiling in sight. They sold millions of records, and their faces were all over the television in the UK: videos, interviews, festival appearances, and seemingly non-stop appearances at music award shows. Lost Profits were an immense source of pride for their hometown.

• 21:53Jake Brennan?

  Aside from Super furry animals, or Budgie, bands of consequence, didn't really come out of South Wales. And unless you were part of a super niche subset of 90's Britpop, you didn't really care about Super furry animals. And unless you were in Metallica or obsessed with obscure European metal from the 70's, you had no idea who Budgie was. But you totally should check out the song "Guts" from their 1971 self-titled full-length because it absolutely grooves, but I digress. The point is that Lost Profits, aside from actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, were the biggest thing to come out of South Wales since Elizabeth Taylor's fifth and sixth husband, Richard Burton. And the authorities weren't especially interested in women making claims of sexual abuse against their frontman.

• 22:39Jake Brennan?

  Until the evidence of Ian Watkins's drug use became too obvious to ignore, and authorities were forced to raid his home. On September 21st, 2012, Ian Watkins's home in Ponteford, South Wales, was raided. It should be noted that police were acting not solely on information, if at all, from Joanne Magdulics. Instead, they're acting on a drug warrant. Nonetheless, when they found Ian Watkins's laptop inside of his home, the intelligence officers who eventually cracked into it did so by typing in the password "I [BLEEP] Kids."

• 23:23Speaker 07

  We'll be right back after this word, word, word.

• 23:29Speaker 08

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• 23:58Jake Brennan?

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• 24:33Jake Brennan?

  The contents of Ian Watkins’s laptop confirmed Joanne Magdulick’s worst fears. What authorities found was jarring and beyond belief. 27 terabytes of data, including the most severe and extreme acts of sexual abuse. Babies and dogs being defiled, young children, fans, a 14-year-old being sexually abused by Ian. Split-screen footage of Ian and Phoebe molesting her infant child, with Ian referring to them both as his slave duo. By the end of 2012, the singer of Lost Profits was arrested behind bars in Cardiff, Wales,

• 25:15Jake Brennan?

  and awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a one-year-old in possession and/or distribution of indecent images of children in extreme animal pornography. In early 2013, incredibly, Joanne Magdulick was also arrested as the investigation into Ian Watkins expanded. With the news of their frontman’s arrest, Lost Profits issued a statement expressing that no one in the band had any clue what Ian Watkins was up to, and that all were in a state of shock over the revelation. Later that year, authorities continued their investigation into Joanne, believing that

• 25:56Jake Brennan?

  the one-time girlfriend of Ian Watkins was guilty of similar crimes, when in reality, it was Joanne who had been trying to get the police to investigate Watkins. By July of 2013, a trial date was set for Ian Watkins. But there would be no trial. Ian Watkins pleaded guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13, but not to rape. Authorities accepted the plea, incredibly, ignoring the video evidence that literally showed Ian Watkins raping children. Again, a one-year-old. For his plea, Ian Watkins received a lighter sentence, and in 2013 was sent away for a

• 26:39Jake Brennan?

  29-year prison term with parole eligibility after 18 years, in the year 2031. Brianna and Phoebe were sentenced to 14 and 17 years, and by my count, one of them will be released next year in 2027.

• 26:58Jake Brennan?

  With Ian Watkins behind bars, authorities then turned their attention fully to convicting Joanne Magillix, who incredibly, up until a year prior, had been the one person working hard to stop Ian Watkins' crimes. Joanne, in January 2014, was formally charged with four counts of possession of indecent images, two counts of distributing an indecent image, and one count of encouraging another to distribute an indecent image. Just before this, Lost Profits formally announced that they would no longer continue as a band. Joanne Magillix fought for her freedom in court. She claimed that she kept any illicit sexual imagery in her possession for which she was

• 27:41Jake Brennan?

  being charged, only in an attempt to gather evidence against Ian Watkins, again, for crimes that authorities at the time seemed almost entirely disinterested in. In court, the evidence of some pretty damning explicit online conversations between Joanne and Ian came up. And Joanne claimed she spoke that way to play along with Ian, in an effort to trap him. The jury also heard about Joanne first going to authorities in 2008. And the jury also heard about Joanne inquiring into the investigation again with authorities in 2009. About Joanne writing to the chief constable of the South Wales Police in 2011, and how

• 28:24Jake Brennan?

  the chief constable didn't offer any help. About the officer claiming that the evidence that Joanne was then showing them, the evidence that she was now being charged with being in possession of, which was a video of Ian Watkins having sex with a child, about how when she initially brought that video to the police, that the police did nothing about it, because the police then believed that the girl Ian Watkins was having sex with on video was of age. But now the police were changing their tune. "No, she was a child, and you, Joanne Magillix, had video of sex with that child, so now we're trying to put you in jail for it. Back then, when we could have done something about stopping the man conducting the rape on the video, we did nothing, and that man was allowed." to remain free and continue raping children.

• 29:09Jake Brennan?

  But now we feel bad about all that. So we're saying the exact opposite and trying to put you in prison because well, that's how life works sometimes when you're in positions of authority and have to cover your ass, I guess. So sorry, Joanne. The jury was then told how Joanne took the incredible step of dragging one of Ian Watkins' accomplices, either B or P, Brianna or Phoebe, down to the police headquarters herself and explained to the police that she and Ian Watkins, again, B or P, not Joanna, that that B or P and Ian were planning on raping her baby. And the cops essentially laughed the incident off, saying to Joanne that Ian Watkins must have really upset you.

• 29:49Jake Brennan?

  They could have arrested Joanne on the spot for attempted murder because she replied, "I'll put a bullet in his head to stop him from doing it." After that, things spiraled for Joanne. She overdosed numerous times. She even tried faking her own death to put herself out of reach from Ian Watkins. Still, she would not be denied. The court heard about how even after all of this, in 2012, Joanne Magdulix called Child Services to report Ian Watkins's crimes. On January 14th, 2015, Joanne Magdulix was acquitted on all charges.

• 30:30Jake Brennan?

  She explained to the press that the police were four years too late and that, quote,

• 30:35Speaker 09

  "It's been me against the world, really. Me protecting the kids when everyone else called me a liar, a psycho. How many kids could have been saved if they have done their job? The police don't want to believe a local hero could be doing such horrific things. They've got to think, oh, it's a disgruntled ex-partner. Any excuse, lie after lie after lie."

• 30:59Jake Brennan?

  And Joanne went on to say, "I shouldn't be here just for doing the police's job that they couldn't be arsed to do." She was right, and she was free. And Ian Watkins was behind bars, and not just in any old prison, in a prison that was as violent and extreme as the images they found on Ian Watkins's laptop. And justice, actual justice, the biblical kind, was about to be served.

• 32:00Jake Brennan?

  The prison is older than most countries. It's been housing Britain's worst of the worst since 1594. It's officially known as HM Prison Wakefield, but unofficially, everyone calls it "The Monster Mansion." 'Cause, well, there's no better way to describe its prisoners than with the word "monster." There was Harold Shipman, aka "Doctor Death," one of England's most prolific serial killers. A disgraced doctor who it's believed murdered between 200 and 250 of his patients. Shipman killed his unsuspecting patients, mostly little old ladies, with lethal injections of heroin.

• 32:43Jake Brennan?

  His motives are still unclear, but most believe he killed because the women reminded him of his own mother. After being found guilty in the year 2000, he was sentenced to life in prison and transferred to The Monster Mansion in 2003. Six months later, he killed himself. And there was Ian Huntley, one of the UK's most despised killers. He murdered two 10-year-old girls, and then tried burning their bodies to hide the evidence. The search for the two missing girls was national news. Ian's arrest made him infamous. Immediately upon arriving at The Monster Mansion to serve his 40-year sentence, he became a target of other prisoners.

• 33:27Jake Brennan?

  Prisoners who couldn't truck with a criminal, a famous one especially, who abused young kids. They grabbed Ian Huntley in the hospital wing of the prison, held him down, and doused him with scalding hot boiling water. You could hear a quick blast of burning, curdling flesh. Huntley was badly injured, but he survived. He also survived another attack afterward. This one, a quick slash to the neck with a shiv made out of a razor and a toothbrush. Huntley's attacker was a man named Damian Folkes, a prisoner who had already killed another child murderer in a separate prison attack. Ian Huntley survived that attack too, but eventually, his number came due in the Monster Mansion.

• 34:11Jake Brennan?

  On February 26, 2026, while at work in the recycling wing of the prison, Ian Huntley felt his brain bashing in from the blunt force trauma of a three-foot spiked metal pole being swung violently from behind by fellow inmate Anthony Russell. He bashed and bashed and bashed away at Ian Huntley's skull until he and Huntley were surrounded by blood. When he was done, he screamed out, "I've done it!" His exclamation met with a round of cheers from the other inmates. Then there was Robert Maudsley, aka Hannibal the Cannibal, England's very own Hannibal Lecter. Maudsley is falsely said to have eaten the brains of his victims, thus the Hannibal Lecter

• 34:55Jake Brennan?

  comparison, but this is untrue. All Maudsley did was bludgeon one of his victims to death and left his body with a spoon sticking out of his crushed skull. He did this, after being sentenced to the Monster Mansion, to a fellow prisoner. And for his crime and for the explosive violence that this prisoner was known for, Robert Maudsley was placed in solitary confinement in a cell made of plexiglass that looks eerily similar to the one Anthony Hopkins' character in Silence of the Lambs occupies. But that's where the similarities between Robert Maudsley and Hannibal Lecter end. Maudsley killed four men on the outside, for different reasons than the actual Hannibal the Cannibal killed. Maudsley did it out of a sense of vengeance.

• 35:40Jake Brennan?

  The men he was convicted of murdering were pedophiles, and the two men he murdered in prison, including the one he left with a spoon sticking out of his skull, were convicted child abusers. Robert Maudsley remains locked up in the Monster Mansion in solitary confinement for fear of what he'll do to his fellow prisoners, particularly the child molesters.

• 36:05Jake Brennan?

  The Monster Mansion has another nickname: Pedo Palace, due to the maximum-security prison's high concentration of sex offenders. Nearly two-thirds of its population are there for sex crimes. The prisoners who aren't sex offenders are keenly aware of the prisoners who are, and most are hell-bent on executing violent vengeance. Especially in the past few years. Since 2025, there has been a 72% rise in violence at the Monster Mansion. As in most prisons, there is a hierarchy at the Monster Mansion. Pedophiles are considered the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low. Many of the convicted sex offenders are held in what are called "vulnerable prison

• 36:49Jake Brennan?

  units" for their own protection, separated from the rest of the criminal population. It is believed that if held in standard wings with other prisoners, that within time, they'll be murdered. This is where Ian Watkins was held. However, even though he was housed in a vulnerable prison unit, mixing with the other prisoners from the general population was inevitable.

• 37:13Jake Brennan?

  Ian Watkins needed to use the phone. The other prisoners sneered, but there was little they could do. The guards were on them, eyes like hawks at the phone bank. Most of the other prisoners knew Ian Watkins' game. He had women calling him regularly, and not just any women. Not angry, aggrieved ex-wives and girlfriends looking for answers on how to make it on the outside. No, Ian Watkins was an ex-rockstar. He had groupies calling him and blowing him up in his ear, promising him all kinds of pleasures, orally satiating him sexually. And the other prisoners hated him for it. They also hated him for what he did to those kids.

• 37:57Jake Brennan?

  Babies, they said. Babies.

• 38:01Jake Brennan?

  The women on the other end of the phone listened as Ian explained that he didn't understand what the big deal was, this whole thing with the child abuse, that it was all just "mega loles," something to laugh about. Ian Watkins's fellow prisoners weren't laughing. Not when they learned that Watkins had amassed a tranche of love letters in his cell from women on the outside, still eager to connect with the disgraced frontman. They also learned that Watkins had somehow gotten his hands on a cellphone and was in regular contact with many of these women on the outside. This was the action that they wanted in on. Or so Ian Watkins claimed, when the guards found his phone buried in his asshole after a search.

• 38:42Jake Brennan?

  Watkins claimed his fellow inmates were forcing him to connect them with his groupies. This was never proven, but it was one more mark against Ian Watkins. Dead man walking. Ian Watkins, not only because of his crimes, but because of the attention from the women on the outside, because of the way he carried himself, because of his unrepentant attitude, was despised as a prisoner. Prisoners, especially those of means like Ian Watkins, will often pay for protection on the inside. In Watkins's case, the prisoners who could protect him, the violent street gangsters,

• 39:22Jake Brennan?

  the organized crime members, the drug kingpins, they hated Ian Watkins so much that they just took his money and refused to protect him. And what was he, the wormy little ex-rock star, gonna do about it? He was tormented daily. Every interaction with a fellow inmate was caused for some sort of verbal abuse. It was only a matter of time, they said. And that time came in 2023. Ian Watkins lay alone on his cot in his cell. Three men entered slowly. Ian Watkins wasn't going anywhere. They wanted it all: money. Ian was rich. Drugs. Ian was still using. Women. Ian had a line on groupies.

• 40:06Jake Brennan?

  But Ian Watkins, in reality, had none of those things. And the men beat him senseless and took a toilet brush they'd shaved down into a point and stabbed him in the side. They didn't stop there, and the beating continued. Fists, feet, screams, then the prison siren. Guards in riot gear, shooting stun grenades into the cell to break up the beating. Ian Watkins was alive, barely, treated for his wounds and quickly released back into the pedo wing, but he wouldn't be safe for long. October 11th, 2025. They called it the Monster Mansion, but for Ian Watkins, they may as well have dubbed

• 40:50Jake Brennan?

  it Fear City, because the fear was now all he knew. And there was no more fame, and no more money, and there weren't even any more women to connect with. It was just one second after the other, one second after the other of constant fear. When was the next attack coming? And from where? Who it came from did not...

• 41:35Jake Brennan?

  And there it was. Justice. The final attack. Ian Watkins, singer of Lost Profits. The convicted pedophile laid dead on the floor of the Monster Mansion, stabbed to death in a surprise attack by two fellow monsters. Mega LOLs. Mega disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is DisgraceLand.

• 42:14Jake Brennan?

  Alright guys, thanks for hanging out for this episode of DisgraceLand. This is a tough one, this Ian Watkins story, and the question of the week for this week is, does this story about Ian Watkins and all of the depravity, is this the story that just, just upsets you the most of any rock star, true crime, music history, true crime story that you've heard? Is this the one that just... Revolts you entirely, more than any other one. Let me know, 617-906-6638. Voicemail and text. Consider some of those early episodes of Disgrace Land on Jerry Lee Lewis, Big Lurch, perhaps, I don't know, there's a bunch. You can get into them. Let

• 42:56Jake Brennan?

  me know. Let's talk about them. Voicemails, texts, DMs, at disgracelandpod, email, [email protected]. I gotta get out of here. Here comes some credits.

• 43:08Jake Brennan?

  Disgrace Land was created by yours truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis, the Exactly Right Network, and iHeart Podcasts. Credits for this episode can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're listening as a Disgrace Land All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a member right now by going to disgracelandpod.com/membership. Members can listen to every episode of Disgrace Land ad-free. Rate and review the show and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook, at Disgrace Land Pod, and on YouTube at youtube.com slash at Disgrace Land Pod. Rockerola.

• 43:53Speaker 10

  He's a bad, bad man.

• 43:57Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle. Hey guys, time to dust off your detective skills while unwinding in the Caribbean on Virgin Voyages' second true crime voyages. Back by popular demand, this five-night, adults-only

• 44:39Jake Brennan?

  escape set sail March 20, 2027, to Grand Turk in the Beach Club at Bimini. The difference between this year and last will be that I will be on the cruise this year. Along with Zeph, and he and I will be taping a live version of Disgrace Land along with podcast hosts from Exactly Right's Buried Bones, Podcast of the Year Award winners, Wisecrack, and other fan favorites. Get on this cruise with us, guys, and enjoy live podcast recordings, behind-the-scenes storytelling, exclusive meet-and-greets, and immersive true crime programming throughout this one-of-a-kind voyage. Head over to www.virginvoyages.com/truecrime to secure your spot.

• 45:18Speaker 00

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