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Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck in an reported prison incident, an inquest has heard.

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

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

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

Coroner Statement

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was formally recognized by a prison officer.

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

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

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He admitted 13 crimes, including plotting 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 creature.

Prosecutors had described him as a man influenced by fame, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond 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. Following that incident, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not fatal.

Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week accused 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 artists - 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 achievement in the US, with their second and third albums reaching the top-40.

They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.

His former bandmates spoke publicly about their surprise and disgust.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished 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 members and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.