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Police Department

Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat 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 jail sentence for child sex offences including the sexual assault of a baby.

The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an related murder case.

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 Statement

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was formally recognized by a prison guard.

Mr Longstaff said emergency services were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the neck".

The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.

'Extreme Wickedness'

In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to the sexual assault and sexual assault of a child under 13.

He admitted 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving creating, making or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.

Prosecutors had described him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond 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 incident, he was taken to hospital with injuries which were not fatal.

Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas.

Who Was Ian Watkins?

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Watkins was once one of Wales' most famous musicians - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.

The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed 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 promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His former bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I hoped it was all a mistake, he was not guilty, he had to be.

"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't return from that."

The remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.