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

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

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

Two individuals have been accused 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 returned to prison as investigations proceeded.

Coroner Statement

Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison guard.

Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "following 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 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 holding inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.

Legal authorities had described him as a man corrupted by fame, substances, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not fatal.

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

Who Was 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 started in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums around the world.

They released 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 attaining the popular charts.

They separated promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His former group members 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 formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.