Now I’m not the lynch mob type - I’ve written before about how the media should hold back on naming and shaming people prior to sentencing, and I stand by that wholeheartedly. But the guilt of Ian Watkins was never in doubt. This wasn’t one persons word against another, there was exhaustive video and written evidence, and the admissions of some of the people involved. He even admitted some of the charges in court under the (quite frankly) outrageous guise of wanting to spare his victim’s families from hearing evidence.
There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that this man is vile. I don’t care how many psychologists will argue that pedophilia is a mental compulsion, it isn’t, and this wouldn’t excuse Watkins’ behaviour even it it were. Watkins’ brand of child abuse plumped new depths of depravity. This man tried to have penetrative sex with an 11 month baby - several times.
He acted out his fantasies on the truly innocent and vulnerable. Babies who have no voice, no concept of the world around them, and no means of fighting back. Who knows what lasting physical and emotional damage these children will carry with them into adulthood. It’s perverse, morally reprehensible and heinous.
In my eyes, acts of violence or cruelty to children are often more tragic than the murder of an adult. There can be no justification and the story is entirely one-sided - that child hasn’t had enough time to create a back-story worthy of some act of retribution. Ian Watkins, and others like him, act purely out of selfish self-gratification with no care whatsoever for their victims.
When I first read about this case I was physically sick. I didn’t manage to get through the entire article as I felt too appalled. It was simply too much to take in and too graphic. This isn’t because I’m a mother, it’s because I’m a human being. As a true-crime reader, I’ve read some seriously sensational things in my time, but nothing came close to how I felt reading those articles. And these were in our national newspapers for anyone to see.
Today, this man has been sentenced to 29 years behind bars, with a further 6 out on license. But he will be eligible for parole after serving two thirds of the prison term - that’s just 19.5 years. At his time of release he’d be just 56, his victims barely out of their teens. He’ll have plenty more years ahead of him to continue destroying young lives. It certainly makes you wonder just how much worse a case would have to be in order to qualify for a more severe sentence.
Okay, it’s very unlikely he’ll ever walk our streets again - if he doesn’t kill himself when he dries out and the full realisation of his crimes hit home, he’ll be murdered in jail. But this is surely not the point.
The whole case is likely to draw comparisons to that of Baby P’s, whose mother is somehow now out of prison after serving just 4 years. Although his was a child abuse case on a different scale altogether, let us not forget that the Watkins case involves mothers too. Mothers who willingly handed their children over to Watkins to be abused. These women were sentenced to just 14 and 17 years - but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear they’re released after serving far less in just a few years time. Justice Royce also delivered a damning indictment to one of the women during his summing up - that she did not regard her child as a human being. I don’t care how young and impressionable these women were at the time of the crime. They haven’t simply mislaid their moral compasses, they can’t have ever had them to begin with. One of the women even carried out sex acts on her own child over webcam! This doesn’t make her complicit, it makes her AS deplorable as Watkins himself..
Watkins chose to take illegal substances, and these “mothers” chose to favour their idol over their own children, They failed to show even the most simple and natural of instincts when it comes to defenseless children. This points to something seriously worrying and complicated festering in the underbelly of celebrity culture. All those found guilty in this case need intense psychiatric support but should also be behind bars forever more. It is simply incomprehensible to have these people pass us by in ASDA or sit next to us on a bus in several years time.
Sometimes, just sometimes, I think our justice system does not go far enough.
I couldn’t agree more. In cases like this I am 100% for the Death Penalty,seems the only option that makes any moral sense. As for the mothers of the poor,defenceless children-They should be mediately sterilised to ensure they don’t have the opportunity to do anything similar again.
That’s a really good point. I don’t know if castration actually eliminates sex drive, but we do know that some anti-depressants can do this. Of course, these men will argue it’s against their human rights but I’d be all for it if it’s safe, effective and ensures there are no more victims.
I never used to agree with the death penalty, but then I had my own children. To think that this could ever happen is beyond horrific and in cases like these I genuinely believe there is no hope, the proof is in no doubt and so I’d happily take the Chinese way and save us all the bother - take them out the back after the verdict and shoot them.
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I can’t get on board with the death penalty but I can understand the outrage. It’s definitely worse hearing the details of the crime when you’re a mother. I just think the British Justice System is seriously flawed if we can’t protect people from serious offenders. There is no real evidence that jailing someone leads to sexual rehabilitation and most pedophiles will be released only to re-offend. 19.5 years, and coming out in his mid fifties means he has plenty of time to abuse more children. It’s not right.
no sometimes I say good old British justice should bring back hanging!! But then lets hope he is made to suffer in prison in ways you and I cannot even begin to consider possible, maybe hanging is too good for him.
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Something clearly needs to happen. Sentencing seems so disproportionate! I’ve seen victimless crimes carrying harsher sentences than this.
whilst I absolutely agree with you, under our current system this is a very high sentence. I was on Jury service on a similar case but it was a grandfather who had raped his grand-daughters for years and he got 7 years. Sadly judges have to sentence within guidelines and under the current guidelines the judge gave the maximum that could have been given and I suspect this was only because it was a high profile case and to set an example. Most murder sentences are 15-25 years. The whole system needs an overhaul because sentencing is all over the place….. 4 of my friends were killed by a drink driver and he got 3 years and served 1…. that means each life was only worth a few months.
My real issue with this whole case is that it would not have happened if the police had done their jobs properly, his ex girlfriend reported him over four years ago and they didn’t listen to her. It had been all over the internet about him for a long time and in fact his profile on a hideous incest site is still up for all to see and people have known about it for years….yet the police did nothing. It was only by chance that he was caught because they did a drugs raid on his home, they didn’t set out to arrest him for rape.
I did a little bit of research on the sentencing problem when I wrote this post and completely take on board your point. This is why I think he should have been sectioned for life instead. He won’t ever have to face up to his crimes in prison as he’ll be killed before he realises exactly what he has done. There is also a case for overlapping custodial sentences which could have been applied here given there’s more than one victim. Hopefully these international investigations will yield something and there’ll be more charges. This way his sentences will be consecutive.
I agree in the most part with your post. And from what I understand the mother’s involved, or at least one of them, have actually shown some remorse - Watkins, on the other hand, has not. I think that is why the mothers’ sentences were somewhat shorter.
The part I disagree with is this: “I don’t care how many psychologists will argue that pedophilia is a mental compulsion, it isn’t”
Personally I believe that paedophilia IS a mental issue. However, the difference is that he acted on those impulses instead of being able to control himself. THAT is what makes him different from you and me. I think everyone has thoughts that they should have - how many times has a husband/wife thought about killing their partner? The difference is in those cases it is not acted upon because we know it’s wrong and understand morality. So yes, he may not be able to help having sick thoughts but he should know that they cannot be acted upon.
MaFt
You see, remorse doesn’t cut it for me. Anyone can say sorry or pop along to a counselor and have a little cry. This isn’t pinching a tenner out of a charity jar, it’s child enabling (and participating in) child abuse.
I see your point re the mental issue, but surely this makes him a psychopath worthy of indefinite detention.
“Psychopathy (/saɪˈkɒpəθi/) (or sociopathy (/ˈsoʊsiəˌpæθi/)) is defined as either an aspect of personality or as a personality disorder, characterized by enduring dissocial or antisocial behavior, a diminished capacity for empathy or remorse, and poor behavioral controls or fearless dominance” Wikipedia
I wholeheartedly agree with you. To think this “person” will be let out at some point, free to continue with his perverse behaviour and destroying lives makes me feel physically sick. The scale of his crimes are that great that I honestly can’t ever see him being a “reformed character” - if he’s released I imagine it wouldn’t take him long to reoffend unfortunately
That’s it. Sometimes it amazes me that our justice system thinks time served = rehabilitation. It doesn’t! It happened with the James Bulger case when one of them was let out - he was back behind bars in under a year for possession of indecent images.
i agree with you completely. i was a massive fan of lostprophets in my teenage years and as soon as the first story broke i thought “this cant be true”. i think its absolutely disgusting how he described it as ‘mega lolz’ and that he doesn’t understand why everyone’s making such a fuss. he doesn’t deserve to walk the streets again and a death sentence would just be an easy way out.
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I took the MegaLolz thing with a pinch of salt as I wasn’t sure if it was true. If it is, it only fuels my hatred more. Furthermore it shows how manipulative he is - can we really trust this man to be let back out onto our streets?