Reason of Paedophile Singer's Prison Demise Disclosed

Police Department

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

Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison sentence for child sex offences including the sexual assault of a infant.

The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion of an associated murder case.

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

Coroner Statement

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, 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 paramedics were called to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the neck".

The coroner said a post-mortem report gave the reason of death as an wound to the throat.

'Extreme Wickedness'

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

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

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

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

Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that incident, he was taken to hospital with injuries which were not life-threatening.

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

Who Was 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 around the world.

They released 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 separated promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was innocent, he had to be.

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

The other bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.