Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, died 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 attempted rape of a baby.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an associated murder trial.
Two men have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were returned to prison as inquiries continued.
Official Findings
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was officially recognized by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the throat".
The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but admitted the attempted rape 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 possessing indecent 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 fame, substances, and influence who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding 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 life-threatening.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once 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 around the world.
They produced five studio albums, one of which achieved number one in the UK.
The group also had some success in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.
They separated immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though 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 done. You can't go back from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
