The Valleys Boy Who Became a Monster Week In Week Out

He was the boy from the Valleys who lived the dream, finding fame and

fortune in a rock band. But off stage, he committed the most

horrendous crimes involving children. He blurts out, I have got

a two-year-old on Tuesday. What do you mean you have got a two-year-old

on Tuesday? I have got a two-year-old to rape on Tuesday.

There are calls for an inquiry. Because of the number of children

involved, the numbers of forces involved, some kind of large inquiry

really needs to happen. For the first time, we can reveal

the details behind a second case linked to the same police officer

who is under investigation. He could have been stopped a lot sooner. A

hell of a lot sooner. Tonight, we examine new evidence and investigate

if there were missed opportunities to stop a paedophile.

Arriving at court, this is the woman who would help put Ian Watkins

behind bars. It doesn't matter how many years he gets. It doesn't

matter about his life being taken away. It doesn't give any children

whose lives has been ruined, destroyed, it doesn't give them

their lives back. Watkins is driven away to begin a 29

year jail sentence. He admitted carrying out offences with the help

of superfans. Watkins' offending went unchecked for years. Social

services were made aware of concerns about him. But he remained a free

man, free to carry out the most horrific crimes.

Ian David Karslake Watkins was brought up in Pontypridd and went to

Hawthorn High School. Tell us about how it happened for you as a band?

Does it go back to school? We grew up together. We lived within a few

acres of each other kind of thing. Watkins studied graphic design and

graduated with a first from South Wales University. He got a job as a

graphic designer, but he was distracted by his first love, music.

We never really turned down a gig. If some kid saw us at a gig and

said, "It is my birthday, will you play?" Bethan interviewed the band

and continued to chart their progress for years. The heavy rock

music of the South Wales Valleys became international and largely

thanks to the Lostprophets because they were one of the first bands

that signed huge international record deals. They signed to

managers that the biggest rock bands in the world were looking after.

Really, it was so surprising because they came from nowhere. They were

just kids. They were school friends. And they were from a small town that

really hadn't seen anything like it before. As the lead singer and front

man of the band, it was Ian Watkins who attracted a lot of the

attention. He was great fun and he was a funny character. He was yes,

he was charismatic and energetic and enthusiastic about what he was doing

and loved getting the attention really. The band were real rock

stars now and Ian Watkins let the cameras into his home in Pontypridd.

Just weeks later, Watkins was contacted by a woman who would go on

to expose him as a paedophile. Joanne Mjadzelics got in touch with

the Lostprophets star on the internet. She ended up exchanging

messages online with Watkins and agreed to meet him a hotel before a

concert in Leeds. He was really charismatic, charming and I just

totally just, I don't know, just normal. Would it be fair to say he

swept you off your feet? Yeah, he did. As I got to know him, I saw him

as the guy who took care of his family. Looked after his mum.

Watkins and Joanne, who was an escort, began a sexual relationship,

but later he began to tell her things which made her feel uneasy.

It starts off with him saying to me about all these 14-year-old fans

that he had abused and took the virginity off and he had been saying

that he wanted to get me pregnant. He wanted to get me pregnant so he

could abuse the baby. Joanne threatened to report him to the

police, because she suspected he was abusing a young child. She says

Watkins begged her not to and he got his solicitors to draw up a gagging

order against her. He presents you with a document which in effect

claims that you made all this up... That I was a liar. And that you were

a liar... Yes. And you signed it? Yeah. I was forced to sign it really

under duress, but I signed it because I sought legal advice as

well. What advice had you been given? That I could still go to the

police because he was threatening me. He was saying I couldn't go to

the police if I signed that. Is it possible that the police have taken

a sceptical view of you and your story because of the gagging order?

Because this document exists which you signed and in which you said you

made this up? I think it is an excuse. It is an excuse because I

can't make up a child, can I? Having signed the gagging order,

Joanne received ?2,000 from Watkins for what she says was services she

provided him as an escort. At the end of December 2008, Joanne

did go ahead and contact South Wales Police. At the Child Protection Unit

at Pontypridd Police Station. Joanne says she did more than tell the

police about the disturbing things that Watkins had told her. She also

says she sent them a copy of this photograph. It shows a young girl of

about four years of age, who is holding a photo frame with the

picture of a scantily clad woman. On top of the frame is a razor blade

and a thin line of white powder. In her other hand, the girl is holding

a rolled up ?20 note. It appears to be drugs paraphernalia

and Joanne says Watkins told her t white powder was cocaine, we can't

show the picture for legal reasons. Joanne told us she went to Rhondda

Cynon Taff Social Services as well as the police to tell them about the

girl in the picture. Did they tell you what action they were taking?

No. You see, they wouldn't. This is what was so frustrating for me

because I was reporting, every single time I made a report I was

left out of the loop. You know, you have reported it now, we can't

discuss this any further. We can't tell you what we've done. It would

be like, but you need to tell me. Is she safe what? But she says she kept

going back to social services with concerns about the girl. It was

repeated calls about the same little girl over time. Every time I knew my

complaints were not going anywhere with the police, I would back it up

by getting social services to do something. I would say, "Can you do

something about this?" David 9//11 is a lead -- David Nevin is a former

chairman of the British Association of Social Workers. We showed him the

picture and asked for his opinion. I can't tell from a photograph whether

that's really drugs or whatever, but the staging of it is to my mind

inappropriate for a child. Joanne thought her evidence, the

picture of the child, together with her concerns about Watkins would

trigger action by the police. They just kept telling me the same

excuse. They haven't decided how to interview me yet. That was the

standard excuse, I am saying you need to get her out of his way. You

need to get her out of danger. In April 2009, three months after she

reported Watkins to police in propbty Pontypridd, she was visited

by an officer who took a video statement. A detective

superintendent from South Wales Police told her they weren't going

to investigate further. Did you give you any explanation? Not enough

evidence. I said, "But it is happening. If anything happens to

another child, it is on your head, not mine because I know that he will

continue." What would normally happen would be

that the police would talk to social services who have got a lead in that

field and social services would convene a strategy meeting that

would involve the key people that they were aware of in that child's

life. That's the whole point of making collective decisions about a

situation. Rhondda Cynon Taff Social Services

says it did take action in line with agreed procedures following Joanne's

report to them in December 2008. It is 2009 and the Lostprophets are

regularly headlining huge rock festivals in this country and

abroad. Earlier in his career, Watkins had shunned drink and drugs

and was what is called straight edged. But now his behaviour was

beginning to worry those around him. We have spoken to a close friend of

Watkins who told us of her concerns. She doesn't wish to be identified

and an actress tells her story. He was an amazing guy and then the

drugs happened. It started with coke and then ecstasy and then in LA he

found crystal meth and that's what he became scared of. That became his

everything. It was more important than anything. We all tried to help

him. He was an extremist. He was completely straight edged. And then

he just turned into a complete junky.

The band was spending a lot of time in Los Angeles recording their

music. He was constantly off his face. He

wouldn't shower for days. His apartment was a complete wreck. Fast

forward to the beginning of 2010 and the band come home. They perform at

Hawthorn High in Pontypridd. They were supporting a Welsh Government

campaign to promote the Valleys. A few months later, Joanne gets back

in touch with Watkins believing she must have been wrong about him and

she apologises. I thought maybe I did get it wrong. Maybe I did

because you know, the police didn't do anything about it. He was saying

all along it was just coke talk and it wasn't real. So maybe I did get

it wrong. So I contact him and I say to him, "I'm sorry that I reported

you. I must have got it wrong because the police didn't do

anything." A couple of weeks later, they meet up at a hotel in Leeds.

Joanne is horrified by a video on his laptop which she says shows a

young girl being raped. He is sat there and just staring at me, but

that evil smirk on his face because he wanted a reaction. I could just

feel the tears. I'm thinking at the same time, "Oh my god, I wasn't

wrong about him. I wasn't wrong about him." At the same time in my

head I'm thinking I've got to report him again, but I can't report him

again because what am I going to say, he has got this video and he is

going to hide his laptop like he hid everything Els the last time? Joanne

says she through him out of the hotel and didn't feel able to go to

the police again at this stage because she didn't think they would

believe her. In October 201 South Wales Police

received information from the Metropolitan Police detailing

allegations against Watkins. But significantly, the complaint was not

made by Joanne, we don't know who the complainant was or what action

was taken. Nine months later, Watkins is back

recording in Los Angeles. He started telling me about this five-year-old

girl that he has been raping on a regular basis in Los Angeles and I

asked him whose child it was and he said she is just some obsessed junky

mum and that's the first time he mentioned like using a fan's child.

Watkins sent three indecent images to her BlackBerry phone. A shocked

Joanne got back in touch with South Wales Police with fresh concerns.

She was referred back to the same Child Protection Unit at popbt prid

police station and the same -- propbty prid police station and the

same detective superintendent. He said, "He is in Los Angeles?" I said

yes. I could tell in his voice that he couldn't be arseked basically --

dance basically. I'm telling him I've got the pictures and I need

someone to look. Was it that he just didn't believe you? Maybe. Maybe he

thought, but why would I make that up?

Fearing that her various concerns about Watkins aren't being followed

up, Joanne turns to the father of the little girl in the picture and

she is shocked to discover that he knows nothing about the photograph

involving his daughter. He called me late one Saturday night and I said

to him, were you aware of a complaint I made against Ian? He

said no. I said well, I did in 2008 and I said that's strange because I

made child services promise me that they would speak to you and they

said in all cases, we have to speak to both parents. We have spoken to

the child's father and he has confirmed that he did report the

matter to South Wales Police, but says he was told not to pursue it

anymore because it could ruin Ian's career.

The father also asked what social services had done? And he was told

they looked into the allegations and that they were satisfied his

daughter was safe. It is now March 2012 and eye vents begin to --

events begin to move quickly. Watkins' offending appears to be

getting worse, but despite warnings to South Wales Police, he is able to

carry on abusing children unchecked. Joanne is in contact with a woman on

Twitter who in turn knows Watkins. Joanne is concerned that Watkins may

have access to the woman's young child. We exchange a few e-mails and

then we exchange phone numbers and she calls me and I tell her I'm

wanting to make an appointment to go and see the police to make a

statement again and to give them my laptop, I said have you got

anything? She said well, yeah, he got me he wants to put GCBH in his

sippy cup and on his dummy and rape him.

Joanne agrees with the woman to visit her local police station at

Doncaster a few days later. But she fails to turn up. She is obsessed

with this man and she is siding with him, I know she is and that baby is

in danger because he has been in contact with that baby. A month

before, I'm telling them that he is going to rape a baby, a month

before, he actually does. Just weeks later, Watkins and the young mother

meet up in a hotel in London and attempt to rape her baby boy.

They even video the horrific offence, she will be caught along

with Watkins and jailed, but not yet.

That very same night, Watkins had been at a party promoting the band's

new album. The next day, he was doing media interviews. There was a

special kind of cashe with celebrity abusers, we have seen it with Jimmy

Savile whatever. The abuse of children is the abuse of power as

much of sexual abuse. If you give somebody almost unlimited power and

they are inclined to abuse children then you are putting together a

toxic formula and that is probably what happened with Watkins.

While she says she wasn't aware of his offending, Watkins' friend was

worried about his behaviour. The record company gave him an

intervention. The band and the management sat him down and in April

2012 he was the worst he had ever been. The band was so close to

breaking up because he was so awful. They tried really hard. He was never

doing anything. But he couldn't be watched 24 hours a day.

At this time, Essex Police contacted detectives in South Wales and passed

on further information and further allegations about Watkins.

These new concerns followed the reports by Joanne, the father of the

girl in the photograph, and the Metropolitan Police. The cause for

suspicion appeared to be growing. At about this time, a separate case

involving the detective sergeant emerges. That same officer is being

investigated over an allegations that he may not have acted on a

report of the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl. We can reveal this

is the accused man in that case, Simon Ashman. He was not convicted

of raping the teenager, but in oct October last year, he was jailed for

separate offences. He denied raping the 15-year-old, but months later,

he went on to assault a five-year-old girl. The little

girl's mother wants to nose if the attack -- know if the attack could

have been prevented. My daughter has nightmares. She feels she has been

chased. She has woken up in hot sweats. It takes a long time to calm

her. My daughter tries to sleep in my bed. She doesn't want to let me

go. I am heart broken because of the change in my beautiful girl. A

little girl who has been tarnished. We have spoken to a woman who knew

Ashman well. She says he was known to South Wales Police for years.

Quite often he would have young girls in his house and the police

knew this. So I don't know why they couldn't investigate it a lot more.

I think if they, if he could have been stopped a lot sooner, a hell of

a lot sooner. What more do you think could have been done to stop Ashman?

If they did look into things a bit more and spoke to a lot more people

and more people were told about him, maybe something could have been done

about it. The Police Watchdog, the IPCC is

continuing to investigate a detective sergeant at Pontypridd

Police Station who was involved in the Ashman case. The same sergeant,

who is also under investigation over Watkins.

On September, 21st 2012, nearly four years after concerns were first

brought to the attention of South Wales Police, Watkins was arrested

for possession of drugs after they received new information.

Importantly, the police seized his computer which was heavily

encrypted. It was found to contain damning evidence.

Watkins is bailed and gets back in touch with Joanne. She agrees to

meet him, she says, so she can try to gather more evidence. I wanted

him to keep confessing these things so I could keep contacting the

police and keep pressuring them to arrest him. They would be like,

every time, he would be like, "I can't believe I'm seeing you and you

keep trying to put me in jail." Repeating the same thing. Watkins

arrives at a hotel in London in the early hours of the morning. The

first thing he says to me, he blurts out, I have got a two-year-old to

rape on Tuesday. Showing off about it. Whose two-year-old? What

two-year-old? Oh, she is a superfan. What the hell is a superfan? You do

know I am a big deal and I have got all these superfans and they're

giving me their kids. Joanne sees an e-mail to Watkins from a woman she

recognises. She realises that the young woman has a child and she

fears it is the child Watkins wants to abuse. She contacts the woman on

Twitter and challenges her over the claims. She also gets in touch with

Watkins on e-mail and challenges him too.

I have got it now. I have got you. I have got it on e-mails and on

Twitter, private messages, I have got you and so I contacted

Bedfordshire child services and then I contacted Bedford Police and I

spoke to someone in the Child Protection Unit and basically I'm

tellinger everything, going over everything that I had already told

the police in Wales and South Yorkshire like a lot of stuff, I'm

telling her. I'm saying to her, you have got to do something. The woman

with the child Watkins says he plans to rape is woman B and she will be

arrested and jailed. About three weeks later, Watkins is

arrested for a second time on suspicion of producing an obscene

article. He is granted bail again and he teams up with the

Lostprophets as they embark on a UK tour.

This is the last time Watkins would be seen performing on stage at their

final concert in Newport on 14th November 2012.

A month later, on December 17th, Watkins is arrested for a third

time. Now, there is enough evidence and he is charged together with

women A and B with a series of sex offences. For nearly a year, he

protests his innocence, but finally last November, he admitted he was

responsible for a catalogue of sex offending involving children.

Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in jail and must serve an additional

six years on licence. Woman A was sentenced to 14 years and woman B,

17 years. Today's sentence reflects the

gravity of the crimes that have been committed. The three paedophiles

responsible for the terrible abuse of two babies have now been brought

to justice. Watkins has lodged an appeal against his 29 year sentence.

The story doesn't end here. While phase one of the investigation is

complete, phase two is still very much ongoing.

It aims to establish if there are anymore victims or offenders linked

to Watkins or his associates. Police inquiries continue in Germany, the

USA and here in the UK. But questions still remain unanswered.

Such as what action, if any, was taken by South Wales Police each

time Joanne Mjadzelics made a complaint against Watkins?

What happened to the reports from other complainants and perhaps most

significantly, could Watkins offending been stopped earlier if

the police had taken a different course of action?

These questions and more still need to be answered and tonight, there

are growing calls for a wide scale investigation. Because of the

numbers of children involved and the numbers of forces involved, and the

numbers of professional people involved in the whole decision

making and information sharing network, if you like, that some kind

of large inquiry really needs to happen. That will be transparent and

be he had educative for the rest of professionals up and down Wales and

England who are doing this day-to-day.

Joanne was arrested over a sex tape with Watkins, but she says the

police took no further action. South Wales Police have identified their

own concerns and they say they have strengthened child protection

procedures and they have called in the independent police complaints

commission investigate. The IPCC isn't expected to publish

its findings for months, but the detective sergeant at the heart of

this case has been served notice that he is under investigation for

gross misconduct. The IPCC is also looking at the way he was managed by

his superiors and it is investigating two other police

forces in Bedfordshire and South Yorkshire.

Bedfordshire Police say they did investigate woman B in October 2012,

but they found no evidence of kiled abuse at -- child abuse at the time,

but did forward information to South Wales Police. South Yorkshire

confirmed information was supplied to them on three separate occasions,

but declined to comment further. Joanne's story is now being listened

to. She has been interviewed by the IPCC and the police. At the end of

the interview they said, "Joanne, they have already arrested Ian." I

just broke down and cried and said, "You are four years too late. You

are four years too late." He showed people what he wanted them to see.

If they had had listened to you right at the beginning, what

difference do you think you could have made?

Well, there is hundreds of kids out there whose lives wouldn't have been

ruined. The police have got a lot to answer

for for that.