Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck in an reported prison attack, 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 prison sentence for child sex crimes including the sexual assault of a infant.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an associated murder trial.
Two men have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries 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 pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.
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 cause of death as an wound to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He admitted 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault 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 animal.
Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "new ground" and "plunged into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to medical facility 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 responses.
Who Was Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most famous 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 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 bandmates spoke publicly about their surprise and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely done with him, I wished it was all a error, 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 members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
