Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck in an alleged prison incident, an investigation has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving 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 completion of an related murder trial.
Two men have been accused 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 sent back 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 declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The coroner said a post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an incision to the throat.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but admitted the sexual assault and abuse of a child under 13.
He admitted 13 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, producing or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not fatal.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not required to enter pleas.
Who Was 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 released five studio albums, one of which reached 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 convicted in 2013.
His previous group members spoke openly about their shock and revulsion.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely done 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 go back from that."
The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.
