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Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an alleged prison attack, an inquest has heard.

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

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

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

Official Findings

Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison guard.

Mr Longstaff said emergency services were called to the jail "after a report he had been stabbed in the neck".

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

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing 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 committed crimes "exceeding imagination."

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that attack, he was taken to hospital 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 required to enter responses.

Background of Ian Watkins?

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

The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed millions of albums around the world.

They produced five studio albums, one of which achieved number one in the UK.

The group also had some success in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.

They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His previous group members spoke publicly about their surprise and revulsion.

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 finished. You can't go back from that."

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