Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the throat in an reported prison attack, an investigation has learned.
Watkins, 48, succumbed 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 hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion of an related murder trial.
Two individuals have been charged with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on allegation of conspiracy to murder were returned to prison as investigations continued.
Official Findings
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called 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 incision to the throat.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but admitted the attempted rape 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, producing or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.
Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by fame, substances, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that incident, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week accused with his murder, but were not required to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most famous musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed 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 achievement in the US, with their second and third albums reaching the popular charts.
They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former group members spoke openly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I wished it was all a mistake, he was innocent, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't return from that."
The remaining bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
