Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an reported prison incident, an inquest has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed 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 sexual assault of a baby.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an related murder case.
Two men have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were sent back to prison as investigations proceeded.
Coroner Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The examiner said a post-mortem report gave the reason of death as an incision to the neck.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but admitted the attempted rape and abuse of a child under 13.
He admitted 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "new ground" and "plunged into new depths of wickedness".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that incident, 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 charged with his murder, but were not required to enter pleas.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band formed 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 achievement in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the popular charts.
They separated promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His previous group members spoke openly about their surprise and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I wished it was all a mistake, he was innocent, 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.
