Rico Gedel, known by his stage name BroadayYay, a 25-year-old UK drill rapper, is currently on trial with Samuel Dodsworth, 44, both accused of murdering Ian Watkins, the former Lostprophets frontman and convicted paedophile. Watkins, aged 48, was fatally stabbed three times in the head and neck inside his cell at HMP Wakefield in October last year.
Following the attack, police recovered the weapon after Gedel made startling remarks to prison officers. Immediately after the stabbing, Gedel told guards, “People die every day,” and requested a pen to play Sudoku, adding, “I don’t even have shoes or socks.”
Footage from the prison shows Gedel calmly responding to officers as they searched for the knife, which was eventually found discarded in a bin. During the interaction, Gedel criticised the officers’ aggressive search tactics, saying, “It’s easy to act tough when you’re in like seven numbers… All swearing and that, then one of them tried to play good cop, bad cop.”
He also pleaded for “some common decency” and requested basic items such as shoes and socks to be treated normally. In court testimony, Gedel revealed that he targeted Watkins due to their close proximity on the wing but expressed conflicted feelings about his actions, stating, “Sometimes what we are thinking is not what we intend to do. Sometimes what your heart wants is not what your brain wants.”
Both Gedel and Dodsworth deny the charges of murder and possession of an improvised knife. Gedel is currently serving a 27-year sentence for murder, while Dodsworth is serving 24 years for rape and kidnapping. If convicted of the murder charges, their prison terms will be extended, ensuring neither will be released in the foreseeable future.
Originally published by UKNIP.
