Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the throat in an reported prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the sexual assault of a baby.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion of an associated murder trial.
Two men have been accused with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.
Coroner Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to 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 officially recognized by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the throat".
The examiner said a autopsy report gave the reason 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 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.
Legal authorities had described him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "beyond 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. Following that incident, he was taken to medical facility with injuries which were not fatal.
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 started 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 achievement in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.
They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their surprise and revulsion.
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 finished. You can't go back from that."
The other bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
