Jury discharged in Ian Watkins murder trial, retrial set

The murder trial of two inmates accused of killing former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins has ended abruptly, with the jury discharged for legal reasons and a retrial ordered. Watkins, a convicted child sex offender, was stabbed to death in his cell at high-security HMP Wakefield on October 11, 2025.

Serving prisoners Rico Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 44, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Watkins and possessing a knife in prison. Addressing the jury at Leeds Crown Court on Friday, Mr Justice Hilliard said he was discharging them very reluctantly and that the case would have to be retried, a development he described as disappointing for everyone involved. A retrial has been provisionally scheduled for February 8 of next year.

During the trial, prosecutors said Gedel entered Watkins’s cell at approximately 9:20 AM, less than twenty minutes after it was unlocked for the morning. Once inside, he stabbed Watkins in the head and neck with a makeshift knife fashioned from a blade attached to a piece of plastic cutlery with tape. After leaving the cell, Gedel was seen on CCTV passing the weapon to Dodsworth, who wrapped it in tissue and disposed of it in a bin.