The crimes committed by Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins were disturbing beyond words, and his onetime bandmates were shocked and disgusted when they learned the details of the case. According to a new interview in The Sunday Times, guitarists Mike Lewis and Lee Gaze say they have no interest in reconnecting with Watkins after he was sentenced to 29 years in prison for child sex crimes.

Lewis, who first met Watkins at school when they were both 5 years old, states, "I've thought about it long and hard -- and I have no interest in ever speaking to him again. I feel incredibly bad for his mother and his whole family and the stigma they have to endure. But I have no interest in questioning him about it. Never."

The guitarist adds, "I tried reading the judge's report -- I couldn't finish it. I find it utterly unbelievable that he was capable of doing these things. Obviously he did, but I don't understand it."

Gaze, meanwhile, held nothing back concerning his long time friend. He explained, "He's a bit of a coward -- not a tough guy by any means. To be in prison, where he's going to be the guy from the rock band with those charges, I was worried. But then I reached a point where real resentment set it." Gaze stated that he tried to convince the band he was being set up and that someone was trying to get revenge on him.

The guitarist added, "He'd created such a web of people, bouncing these women off each other, that it was perfectly feasible that one of these women hated him so much that she wanted to catch him out."

As for how the band was blindsided by the accusations and eventual arrest, Lewis revealed, "I couldn't believe it. I thought he was a lot of things -- a drug addict, a womanizer. But I never, ever believed that of him. My first assumption was that maybe there was a mistake … He was very, very secretive with us about the women he was seeing and any kind of relationship he had."

After remaining quiet for a majority of the time Watkins was on trial, recent reports stated that the now former members of Lostprophets were looking to continue their career with the assistance of Thursday's frontman Geoff Rickly. More on that can be found by clicking the button below.

More From The Basin's Classic Rock