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

Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a infant.

The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the conclusion 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, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.

Official Findings

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.

Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called 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 throat.

'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 abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or holding inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.

Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, substances, and power who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination."

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following 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 asked to enter responses.

Who Was Ian Watkins?

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Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.

The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums across the world.

They produced 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 reaching the top-40.

They disbanded promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013.

His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their surprise and revulsion.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished 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, shortly thereafter.