Police Department
Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat in an alleged prison attack, an inquest 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 crimes including the sexual assault of a baby.
The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an related murder trial.
Two men have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.
Coroner 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 declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.
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 throat.
'Depths of Depravity'
In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to the attempted rape and abuse 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 holding indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "new ground" 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 life-threatening.
Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not required to enter responses.
Background of Ian Watkins?
Media Archives
Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most recognisable artists - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.
The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold 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 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 error, he was not guilty, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was done. You can't go back from that."
The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.
