Ian Watkins has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of a series of child sex abuse charges and will have to serve two-thirds of the sentence before being eligible for parole, meaning the earliest possible release from prison will be 2036 when the singer is 59 years old.
The Welshman pleaded guilty to 13 separate offences, two of which were related to the attempted rape of a baby, and his sentence was handed down by Mr Justice Royce in Cardiff Crown Court.
During Watkins' sentencing, Royce said that Watkins posed a "significant risk" to the public and that he had explored "new depths of depravity", intimating that this was one of the most extreme cases he had ever heard.
Watkins' two female co-defendants, who cannot be named, were sentenced to 14 and 17 years.
The singer, who was said to be 'shaking' during the proceedings, was revealed to have told probation officers that the extent of his crimes would have gotten worse over time had he not been arrested.
The court also heard that Watkins made a phone call from prison after entering his guilty plea in November, during which he described the situation with levity. "It was megalolz", Watkins was said to have remarked during a phone called. "I don't know what everyone is getting so freaked out about."
In another call, he added: "Nobody was harmed. I'm not a paedophile, I'm not. You know I pleaded guilty to avoid a trial, not realising 'Hang on, that makes me look a bit guilty, but I would never harm anybody'."
Watkins' council, Sally O'Neill, said that the singer has since come to understand and accept his charges, saying that he is "ashamed and appalled by what has happened."
