Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the neck in an reported prison attack, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a baby.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an associated murder case.
Two individuals have been charged with murder in relation 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.
Official Findings
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison 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 autopsy report gave the reason of death as an wound to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but admitted the sexual assault and abuse of a child under 13.
He admitted 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or holding inappropriate images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, substances, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "new ground" and "descended into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared 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 formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums across the world.
They released five studio albums, one of which reached number one in the UK.
The group also had some success in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the popular charts.
They disbanded promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former group members spoke publicly about their surprise and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely done with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was innocent, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was done. You can't go back from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
