Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat in an alleged prison attack, an investigation has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison 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 related murder trial.
Two individuals have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were returned to prison as investigations proceeded.
Official Statement
Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was formally identified by a prison guard.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the throat".
The coroner 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 admitted the sexual assault and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, making or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, 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. Following that incident, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared 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 distributed millions of albums across 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 reaching the top-40.
They separated promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His former bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely done with him, I wished it was all a error, he was innocent, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't return from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
