Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the neck in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has heard.
Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison sentence for child sex crimes including the sexual assault of a baby.
The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion of an related murder trial.
Two individuals have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were returned to prison as inquiries continued.
Official Findings
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the neck".
The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the neck.
'Extreme Wickedness'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but confessed to the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13.
He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of wickedness".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After 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 accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable artists - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band formed 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 reaching the popular charts.
They disbanded immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.
His former group members spoke openly about their surprise and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was innocent, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't go back from that."
The other members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
