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Police Department

Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the neck 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 attempted rape of a infant.

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

Two individuals have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries proceeded.

Official Statement

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was officially recognized by a prison officer.

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

The coroner said a post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an incision to the neck.

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He admitted 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, producing or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.

Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man influenced by fame, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "beyond imagination."

Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "new ground" and "plunged into new levels of wickedness".

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

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

Background of Ian Watkins?

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Watkins was once 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 released five studio albums, one of which achieved number one in the UK.

The group also had some achievement in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the popular charts.

They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.

His former group members spoke openly about their surprise and revulsion.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely done with him, I wished it was all a mistake, 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 formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.