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Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has heard.

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 attempted rape of a infant.

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

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

Coroner 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 pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was formally recognized by a prison officer.

Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck".

The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an incision to the throat.

'Extreme Wickedness'

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 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.

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

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to hospital with wounds 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 recognisable musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets.

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums across 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 previous bandmates spoke openly about their shock and disgust.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although 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 done. You can't return from that."

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