Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat in an reported prison incident, 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 offences including the sexual assault of a infant.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the conclusion of an associated murder trial.
Two men have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were returned to prison as investigations continued.
Coroner Statement
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison guard.
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 wound to the neck.
'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 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.
Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new depths of depravity".
Watkins was also stabbed 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 accused with his murder, but were not required to enter responses.
Who Was Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most famous artists - 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 success in the US, with their second and third albums reaching the top-40.
They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His former bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.
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 finished. You can't return from that."
The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
