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Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away 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 prison sentence for child sex offences including the sexual assault of a baby.

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

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

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 declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was officially recognized by a prison officer.

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

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

'Extreme Wickedness'

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

He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or holding inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.

Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination."

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to medical facility 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 responses.

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

They released 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 reaching the popular charts.

They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty 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 hoped it was all a mistake, he was innocent, he had to be.

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

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