Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an alleged prison attack, an inquest has heard.
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 offences including the sexual assault of a baby.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion of an associated murder case.
Two men have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were returned to prison as investigations continued.
Coroner Statement
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was formally identified by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the throat".
The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an incision to the neck.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to 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 taking, making or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.
Legal authorities had described him as a man influenced by fame, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "new ground" and "plunged into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that incident, 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 pleas.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once 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 produced five studio albums, one of which achieved 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 previous bandmates spoke openly about their surprise and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I hoped it was all a mistake, he was innocent, 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.
