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Twitter mobs attack wrong celebrity Ian Watkins after child abuse case

Efforts to save Eurozone possibly imperilled - read on

A furious online hate mob has attacked Steps singer H after trying to launch a hate campaign against a different celebrity musician who pled guilty to a string of vile child sex offences.

Lostprophet singer Ian Watkins was yesterday convicted of a number of hideous crimes, including the attempted rape of a baby.

After the news broke, huge numbers of angry people took to Twitter to vent their anger without realising that the handle @ianhwatkins belonged to the Steps singer, not the Lostprophet one. Another similar handle, @ianwatkins, was also targeted, despite the fact it is used by a mild-mannered Christian who has dedicated his life to helping the victims of people trafficking.

The two totally innocent men were bombarded with enraged messages which were meant for the Lostprophets singer.

H from Steps previously announced he would be taking a break from Twitter after receiving abusive missives during the trial of Ian Watkins.

On his Facebook page, one person wrote: "I hope H is locked up for a long time for his crimes."

H later took to Facebook and wrote: ""This is the 'Official Ian H Watkins' website. Better known as H from Steps. H is in NO WAY related with the news about the singer from Lostprophets!

"Please don't post any comments about the news here because they will be deleted. Thank you!"

This Reg reporter interviewed H and the rest of Steps about two years ago. When the band said they wanted to bring a bit of cheer to a recession-hit world, I asked H if he thought Steps might be able to help solve the Eurozone crisis, to which he replied:

"Yes, I think so."

The other Ian Watkins was also bombarded with abuse all day, causing him to tweet:

Many of the angry Twitterers quickly realised their mistake and deleted their messages. Here are a selection:

Just read on the article about @ianwatkins! How can police be soo stupid!? Went on for 4 years and noone realised anything..

— Melissa Pennie (@Mellyyxx) November 27, 2013

The lead investigator in the case of the Lostprophets Ian Watkins, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Doyle, had commented: "There is no doubt in my mind that Ian Watkins exploited his celebrity status in order to abuse young children."

Perhaps the chief inspector should have specified just which celebrity Ian Watkins he meant. ®

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