Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the neck in an alleged prison attack, an investigation has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison sentence for child sex offences including the attempted rape of a baby.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion of an related murder case.
Two individuals have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were returned to prison as investigations 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 declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was formally recognized by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were summoned to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The coroner said a post-mortem 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 abuse of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had described him as a man influenced by celebrity, substances, and influence who had committed crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that incident, he was taken to hospital with injuries which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not required to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable artists - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed millions of albums around 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 attaining the popular charts.
They separated immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former group members spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though 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 done. You can't go back from that."
The other bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
