🔗 Share this article

Police Department

Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has heard.

Watkins, 48, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing 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 charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of conspiracy to murder were sent back to prison as investigations continued.

Coroner Findings

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 on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison guard.

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

The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the neck.

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.

Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that incident, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not life-threatening.

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

Background of Ian Watkins?

Media Archives

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

The band started 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 success 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 openly about their shock and revulsion.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although 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 bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.