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Shamed Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the neck in an reported prison incident, an investigation has learned.

Watkins, 48, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex offences including the attempted rape of a baby.

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

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

Coroner Findings

Coroner 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 identified by a prison officer.

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

The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He admitted 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse 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 creature.

Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "beyond imagination."

Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of depravity".

Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that incident, he was taken to medical facility with injuries which were not life-threatening.

Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week charged 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 lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums around the world.

They produced five studio albums, one of which reached 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 convicted in 2013.

His previous group members spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was innocent, he had to be.

"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't return from that."

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