Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat in an alleged prison incident, an investigation has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison sentence for child sex crimes including the sexual assault of a baby.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an related murder case.
Two men have been accused with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.
Coroner Statement
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 officially identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but confessed to the sexual assault and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making 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, substances, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "new ground" and "descended into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to hospital with injuries which were not life-threatening.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not required to enter pleas.
Who Was Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly 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 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 separated immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former bandmates spoke openly about their surprise and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I wished it was all a mistake, he was not guilty, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't go back from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
