Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck in an reported prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex offences including the attempted rape of a baby.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated murder trial.
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 returned 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 short hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was officially recognized by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the throat".
The examiner said a post-mortem report gave the reason of death as an incision to the neck.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but admitted the sexual assault and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He admitted 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man influenced by fame, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "new ground" and "descended into new depths of depravity".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that incident, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not life-threatening.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week accused with his murder, but were not required to enter pleas.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most famous artists - the lead singer 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 popular charts.
They disbanded immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His former group members spoke openly about their shock and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done 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 done. You can't go back from that."
The other bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
