Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck in an alleged prison attack, an inquest has learned.
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 attempted rape of a baby.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an related murder trial.
Two men have been charged with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of conspiracy to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries proceeded.
Official Findings
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.
'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 pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, making or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had described 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 "plunged into new depths of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that incident, he was taken to hospital 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 pleas.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most famous artists - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed millions of albums around the world.
They produced 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 reaching the top-40.
They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their surprise and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I wished 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 remaining bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
