Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a baby.
The inquest, 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 suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were returned to prison as investigations continued.
Official Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified 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 formally recognized by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services 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.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but admitted the sexual assault and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, making or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had described 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 "plunged into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that attack, he was taken to medical facility 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 pleas.
Who Was Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most famous musicians - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed 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 achievement in the US, with their second and third albums reaching the top-40.
They separated promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His previous group members spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.
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 done. You can't return from that."
The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
