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Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the throat in an alleged prison attack, an investigation has heard.

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 attempted rape of a infant.

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

Two individuals have been charged with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, arrested earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were returned to prison as investigations continued.

Coroner Statement

Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was formally identified 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 autopsy report gave the reason of death as an wound to the neck.

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He admitted 13 offences, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or holding indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.

Prosecutors had portrayed 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 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, appeared in court last week accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas.

Background of Ian Watkins?

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

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed 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 attaining the popular charts.

They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.

His former bandmates 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 return from that."

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