Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year prison sentence for child sex offences including the sexual assault of a infant.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated murder case.
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 allegation of plot to murder were sent back 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 short proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the neck".
The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an incision to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but admitted the sexual assault and abuse of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or holding inappropriate images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had described him as a man influenced by fame, substances, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new depths of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following 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 accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most famous musicians - the lead singer 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 disbanded promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His previous group members 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 done. You can't go back from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
