Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the neck in an reported prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex offences including the attempted rape of a infant.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an related murder trial.
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
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics 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 denied rape but confessed to the attempted rape and abuse of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including conspiring 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 extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Prosecutors had described him as a man influenced by fame, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new depths of depravity".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that incident, he was taken to medical facility with injuries which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented 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 musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold 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 attaining the popular charts.
They separated immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His former group members spoke openly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely done with him, I wished it was all a mistake, 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, soon after.
