Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an reported prison attack, an inquest has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed 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 sexual assault of a baby.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated murder trial.
Two men have been charged with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were returned 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 jail by an attending doctor and was formally recognized by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the throat".
The examiner said a autopsy report gave the reason of death as an incision to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but admitted the attempted rape 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 creating, producing or holding indecent 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, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "new ground" and "plunged into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that incident, he was taken to medical facility 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 required to enter responses.
Who Was Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed millions of albums around 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 reaching the top-40.
They separated promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their surprise and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I wished it was all a error, he was innocent, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't go back from that."
The remaining bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
