Cause of Child Sex Offender Musician's Prison Death Disclosed

Police Department

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

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 crimes including the sexual assault of a baby.

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

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

Coroner Findings

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail 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 autopsy 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 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, making or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.

Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by celebrity, substances, and power who had committed crimes "beyond imagination."

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that attack, 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.

Who Was 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 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 immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013.

His former bandmates spoke openly about their shock and revulsion.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though 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 go back from that."

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