Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an alleged prison attack, an investigation has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed 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 hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an related murder trial.
Two men have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were returned to prison as inquiries proceeded.
Official Statement
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 jail by an on-call doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the neck".
The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but admitted the attempted rape and abuse of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or holding inappropriate 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 celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that incident, 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 accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most famous musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums around the world.
They released 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 immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His previous group members spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I wished 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 go back from that."
The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
