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© South Wales police/PAFormer Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins is due to be sentenced.
Transcript of fan's conversation with former Lostprophets frontman read out to shocked court before sentencing

The paedophile rock star Ian Watkins spoke to a female fan from prison the day after admitting two counts of attempted baby rape and said he was going to issue a statement when he was sentenced saying it had all been "mega lolz".

A transcript of the conversation was read out to a shocked and silent Cardiff crown court on Wednesday as the former Lostprophets frontman was being sentenced.

Christopher Clee QC, prosecuting, told the judge that Watkins had a conversation from Park Prison with a woman named Samantha on 27 November.

Watkins denied being a paedophile and expressed exasperation at the way people had reacted to his guilty pleas.

He said: "I'm going to put out a statement on the 18th just to say it was mega lolz. I do not know what everybody is getting so freaked out about."

Watkins explains in the conversation that he was faced with a choice before pleading guilty. "It was like either I go up there and say: 'Come on it was not that bad. Nobody got hurt,'" or "try to win them over with my charm" and end up saying: "I was off my head and do not remember anything."

Clee said that in a second conversation with the same woman the following day he claimed a lot of what he had said in online conversations was "bullshit chat that I did to shock when I was off my head".

He insisted that no baby was ever harmed and said he was "going to release a statement and stuff".

Told by the woman that what he had planned to say might not be a good idea, he agreed, saying: "It is just lol now."

The phrase "mega lolz" was used by the Lostprophets on some of their T-shirts. The group also performed in front of a backdrop saying MEGA LOLZ! on the main stage of the Reading festival in 2010.

Clee also detailed for the court the specific images found on the singer's computers. Of a total of 90 child abuse images, 24 fell into the most severe category. He also possessed 22 separate bestiality images.

Source: Press Association