Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an reported prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being assaulted 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 associated murder trial.
Two individuals have been accused with murder in relation 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.
Coroner Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "following 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.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but confessed to the sexual assault and abuse 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, producing or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that attack, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not life-threatening.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented 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 recognisable artists - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started 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 achievement in the US, with their second and third albums reaching the top-40.
They separated promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely done with him, I hoped it was all a error, 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, soon after.
