Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, 48, 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 trial.
Two men have been accused with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were sent back 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 brief proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was officially recognized by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the throat".
The examiner said a post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an incision to the throat.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to the sexual assault and abuse of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault 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.
Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding 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 attack, he was taken to medical facility with injuries which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas.
Who Was Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most recognisable 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 achieved number one in the UK.
The group also had some achievement in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the popular charts.
They separated immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former group members spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished 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 done. You can't go back from that."
The remaining bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
