Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the neck in an reported prison attack, 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 prison sentence for child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a infant.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the conclusion of an associated murder trial.
Two men have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were returned to prison as investigations proceeded.
Official Findings
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "following a report he had been attacked in the throat".
The examiner said a post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but confessed to the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He admitted 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.
Prosecutors had described him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and influence who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that attack, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas.
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 around the world.
They produced five studio albums, one of which reached 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 separated promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His former group members spoke openly about their shock 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 bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
