Don’t Menshn Lostprophets Profits

If there has been one pundit who has been on the case of anyone not seen to be prosecuting all those under-age grooming and exploitation stories with sufficient vigour, it has been (thankfully) former Tory MP Louise Mensch, who has been extremely wayward at times - getting the reopening of the Rochdale case and its subsequent development totally wrong, and ditto her understanding of the Police’s role - but she has been persistent.

(c) Doc Hackenbush 2014

And in that persistence she has yielded neither fear nor favour, except for one case, and one that is very well known. That is the grim story of former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins, whose indulgence in paedophilia sickened many involved with his prosecution and subsequent conviction: Watkins is now serving a 29 year sentence for his crimes. But there has been very little comment trom Ms Mensch.

It’s not as if there wasn’t plenty of press coverage. The why-oh-why brigade homed in on the law enforcement authorities: “Female fans warned for nearly four years that Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins was obsessed with child porn... so why didn't the police act sooner?” howled the Daily Mail, this being an ideal conjunction of the current cop-bashing meme with the trusty paper-selling “but what about the children”.

“The police faced serious questions last night over why they failed to act sooner to stop Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins [it’s always “last night” in tabloid land] ... From early 2010 horrified fans who had become friends with Watkins went online to beg for help after discovering vile images on his computer”. With such coverage, there was ample scope for child abuse campaigners and pundits - like Ms Mensch - to notice.

But there is good news for her, and all those who might have managed to miss what went before, as the Mirror has observed that Watkins “is to receive a £147,497 pay-out from his music empire … After Watkins was convicted in November 2013, his four fellow band members instructed ­accountants to wind up a firm called Goonies Touring Company Ltd, which handled their affairs”.

Of course, Watkins is, despite being in jail, not short of a few folding ones, and this is in no small measure due to Lostprophets being signed up by a management company who looked after their affairs and made sure they were paid their dues. The BBC reported previously that the joint head of the firm, QPrime, which has Metallica and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on its books, signed them personally.

His name is Peter Mensch. No prizes for guessing the identity of his third wife, whose crusade against child sexual exploitation has, for some reason, dodged around the case of Ian Watkins, and won’t be going there any time soon, despite the Mirror’s story. After all, it might not be good domestic politics to draw attention to QPrime, in case the authorities decide to ask who in that organisation knew what, and when.

What you will not be reading from the Sun’s fearless pundit any time soon.