Overview
- Prosecutors opened their case Thursday at Leeds Crown Court against Rico Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, who both deny murder and possessing a makeshift knife.
- The Crown says Gedel stabbed Watkins three times in his cell with a homemade blade, causing head and neck wounds that included a cut to the jugular vein.
- CCTV, prosecutors say, shows Gedel entering the cell for about 20 seconds before handing an item to Dodsworth, and officers later found a blood‑stained homemade knife in a bin.
- Jurors heard that Watkins received two notes the day before that accused him of getting a prisoner moved, demanded money, and threatened violence, in a jail culture hostile to child sex offenders.
- Watkins, who was serving a 29‑year sentence for child sex crimes, was killed at HMP Wakefield in October 2025, and the coroner’s inquest is paused until this trial concludes.