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Police Department

Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an reported prison attack, an investigation has heard.

Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison 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 conclusion of an related murder trial.

Two men have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were returned 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 hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.

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 wound to the throat.

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or holding indecent 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 celebrity, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."

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

Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that attack, 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.

Background of Ian Watkins?

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

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed millions of albums across 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 top-40.

They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

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

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I wished it was all a error, he was innocent, 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, shortly thereafter.