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Police Department

Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the neck in an reported prison incident, an investigation has learned.

Watkins, 48, succumbed on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a infant.

The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated 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 sent back to prison as investigations proceeded.

Official Statement

Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified 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 officially recognized by a prison guard.

Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck".

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 sexual assault and abuse of a child under 13.

He admitted 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or holding inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.

Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by fame, substances, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."

Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of wickedness".

Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that incident, he was taken to medical facility with injuries which were not fatal.

Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week charged with his murder, but were not required to enter responses.

Background of Ian Watkins?

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Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums across the world.

They produced five studio albums, one of which reached number one in the UK.

The group also had some achievement in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.

They disbanded immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His former bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was not guilty, he had to be.

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

The remaining bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.