Ian Watkins, the frontman of rock band Lostprophets and a convicted child and animal abuser, was killed in prison while serving his decades-long sentence. But why are people concerned with the moral and ethical considerations of continuing to listen to his band, given the depravity of his crimes, asks Derek McArthur.

Ian Watkins, musician and convicted paedophile, was stabbed to death by fellow inmates in HMP Wakefield while serving a 30-year sentence for sexually abusing children and animals.

Watkins was allegedly killed by two men, one of the accused is Rashid Gedel, a drill rapper who once rapped under the name BroadayYay. Seemingly, it was not over the heinous crimes Watkins committed, but a drug debt.

Either way, there will be little mourning over this loss. Watkins was depraved as it gets, even making one-year-olds the targets of his sick exploits. The details of his abuse are so nauseating to the point where it feels gratuitous even to repeat them here. Watkins was never remorseful, describing his vicious acts as ‘megalolz’ and attempting the same reckless abandon within prison walls. The world’s tiniest violin quietly played when he saw a premature end.

So, it makes the question of how it affects Lostprophets, the band Watkins fronted, and their legacy, rather quaint. Small and insignificant. Who cares about........

© Herald Scotland