Police Department
Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the throat in an alleged prison attack, an investigation has learned.
Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being targeted 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 adjourned pending the conclusion of an associated murder trial.
Two individuals have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were returned to prison as investigations proceeded.
Coroner Findings
Coroner 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 attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.
Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "following a report he had been attacked in the neck".
The examiner said a autopsy report gave the reason 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 conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, producing or holding inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.
Legal authorities had described him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."
Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "new ground" and "plunged into new levels of depravity".
Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to medical facility 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?
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Watkins was once one of Wales' most famous artists - 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 success in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.
They separated promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.
His previous group members spoke publicly about their surprise and disgust.
Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was innocent, he had to be.
"The first time, we knew the band was done. You can't return from that."
The other bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.