Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an reported prison attack, an inquest has heard.
Watkins, 48, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison sentence for child sex crimes 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 men have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on allegation of conspiracy to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.
Coroner Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The coroner said a post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an incision to the neck.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to 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 creating, making or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had described him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following 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.
Who Was Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable artists - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed millions of albums across the world.
They produced five studio albums, one of which reached 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 former group members spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I hoped 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 return from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
