Reason of Child Sex Offender Singer's Prison Demise Revealed

Police Department

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

Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a infant.

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

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

Official Statement

Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was formally 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 examiner said a post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault 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.

Legal authorities had described him as a man influenced by fame, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "beyond imagination."

Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "new ground" and "descended into new depths of wickedness".

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

Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week accused with his murder, but were not required to enter responses.

Background of Ian Watkins?

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Watkins was formerly 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 across the world.

They produced five studio albums, one of which reached number one in the UK.

The group also had some success in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.

They disbanded immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His previous group members spoke publicly about their surprise and revulsion.

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

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

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