Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the throat in an alleged 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 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 conclusion of an associated murder case.
Two men have been accused with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were returned to prison as investigations proceeded.
Coroner Findings
Coroner 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 on-call doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the throat".
The coroner said a post-mortem 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 abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent 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 fame, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new depths of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked 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, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not asked to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed 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 top-40.
They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former group members spoke openly about their shock and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was not guilty, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was done. You can't return from that."
The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
