Jury discharged in trial of inmates accused of killing Ian Watkins

The jury in the trial of two inmates accused of killing paedophile Ian Watkins in prison has been discharged.

Serving prisoners Rico Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 44, denied murdering Watkins and possessing a knife in prison. Both are due to be re-tried.

Watkins, who was 48 and from Pontypridd, was jailed for 29 years in December 2013 after admitting a string of sex offences, including the attempted rape of a fan's baby.

Addressing the jury at Leeds Crown Court on Friday, Mr Justice Hilliard said: "Very reluctantly, I'm going to discharge you and the case will have to be re-tried."

The court was told the re-trial had been provisionally set for 8 February next year.

During the trial the court heard Gedel had gone into Watkins' cell at about 09:20 BST, less than 20 minutes after it was unlocked for the morning.

Once inside he stabbed him in the head and neck with a knife fashioned from a blade stuck to a piece of plastic cutlery with large amounts of tape.

After leaving the cell Gedel was seen on CCTV passing the weapon to Dodsworth, who wrapped it in tissue and put it in a bin.

Prosecutors had said Gedel and Dodsworth were both guilty of murder because Dodsworth "knew the attack was going to happen" and assisted Gedel by disposing of the knife.

The court heard Gedel, who was serving a life sentence for murder at the time of the attack, was seen grinning and laughing after the stabbing, asking prison officers to "let me know when he dies".

He was also recorded saying "have a good night's sleep Watkins lad" as he was taken past the cell where the former singer was receiving medical treatment.

During the trial Gedel told the court he hated being housed with sex offenders at Wakefield and had threatened to hurt "any number of paedophiles" if he was not transferred.

He said he chose Watkins largely due to "proximity", as he had been put in the cell next to him the night before, after being moved from another wing for assaulting three prisoners there.

Dodsworth, who is serving a sentence for raping a woman, said he played no part in the attack and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

He said Gedel handed the knife to him after emerging from Watkins' cell, and he tried to give it back but ended up throwing it away after panicking at the sight of an injured Watkins.

When Watkins was sentenced in 2013 for 13 child sex offences, the judge, Mr Justice Royce said the case broke "new ground" and "plunged into new depths of depravity".