Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the throat in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year prison sentence for child sex offences including the sexual assault of a baby.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the conclusion of an related murder case.
Two individuals have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were sent back to prison as investigations proceeded.
Coroner Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was formally recognized by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an incision to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but admitted the attempted rape and abuse of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or holding inappropriate images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.
Prosecutors had described him as a man influenced by celebrity, substances, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that incident, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums around the world.
They released five studio albums, one of which achieved number one in the UK.
The group also had some achievement in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the popular charts.
They disbanded immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished with him, I wished it was all a mistake, he was not guilty, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't go back from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
