Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an reported prison incident, an investigation has heard.
Watkins, 48, died 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 attempted rape of a infant.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated murder case.
Two individuals have been accused with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were returned to prison as inquiries proceeded.
Official Statement
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was officially recognized by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the throat".
The coroner said a post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an wound to the neck.
'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 admitted 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving creating, producing or holding inappropriate images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new depths of wickedness".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not life-threatening.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week charged with his murder, but were not asked to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once 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 released 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 popular charts.
They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former group members spoke publicly about their surprise and disgust.
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 finished. You can't go back from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
