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, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison sentence for child sex offences including the attempted rape of a infant.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion of an associated murder trial.
Two men have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.
Official Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were summoned to the jail "following a report he had been attacked in the throat".
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 refuted rape but admitted the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He admitted 13 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.
Prosecutors had described him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and influence who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "new ground" and "plunged into new depths of wickedness".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to medical facility with injuries which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not asked to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the lead singer 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 success in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.
They separated immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former group members spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was not guilty, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't return from that."
The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
