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Police Department

Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the throat in an reported prison attack, an inquest 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 offences including the attempted rape of a baby.

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

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

Official Statement

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 pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison 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 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 refuted rape but confessed to the attempted rape and abuse of a child under 13.

He admitted 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.

Legal authorities had described him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "beyond imagination."

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

Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not life-threatening.

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

Background of 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 formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums around 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 popular charts.

They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.

His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done 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 other members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.