Police are investigating the death of an inmate at a maximum-security prison just weeks after the alleged murder of former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins.
Officers were called to HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire earlier this morning.
It followed reports by prison staff that an inmate had died in his cell at the high security jail.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Investigations into the man’s death are in their early stages and enquiries are being carried out.”
Police have not yet confirmed whether any arrests have been made in connection with the inmate’s death.
The incident comes less than a month after disgraced rock star Watkins died following an alleged attack at HMP Wakefield, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for child sexual offences.
An inquest into the 48-year-old’s death heard he died from a stab wound to the neck.
Inmates Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, have been charged with murdering Watkins.
Gedel, who was referred to as Rico Gedel in court, and Dodsworth appeared in court last month charged with murder but were not asked to enter pleas.
Dodsworth appeared via video link from HMP Wakefield but Leeds Crown Court heard Gedel had refused to attend remotely as he wanted to appear in person.
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.
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.
Former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died in HMP Wakefield last month
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PA/SOUTH WALES POLICEThe disgraced singer was arrested following the execution of a drugs warrant at his Pontypridd home on September 21, 2012, when a large number of computers, mobile phones and storage devices were seized.
Analysis of the equipment uncovered Watkins’ depraved behaviour.
In 2019 he was jailed for 10 months on top of the sentence he was serving for child sex offences after he was found guilty of possessing a mobile phone in prison.
Watkins claimed two inmates forced him to hold on to the phone so they could contact women who sent him fan mail in order to use them as a “revenue stream”.
In his evidence, he refused to name the men, but said: “You would not want to mess with them.”
He also said his fellow inmates were “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers – the worst of the worst”.
