Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an reported prison incident, an inquest has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex offences including the sexual assault of a infant.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated murder case.
Two men have been charged with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.
Official Findings
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was officially recognized by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The coroner said a post-mortem report gave the reason of death as an wound to the neck.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but admitted 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 creating, producing or holding inappropriate 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 power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "new ground" and "plunged into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that attack, he was taken to hospital with injuries which were not life-threatening.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week accused with his murder, but were not required 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 distributed millions of albums around the world.
They released 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 group members spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I hoped 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 return from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
