🔗 Share this article

Police Department

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

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 offences including the sexual assault of a baby.

The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated 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 allegation of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries continued.

Coroner Findings

Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was formally recognized by a prison guard.

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

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

'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 admitted 13 offences, including plotting 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 animal.

Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and influence who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination."

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

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

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

Who Was Ian Watkins?

Media Archives

Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable 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 achieved 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 convicted in 2013.

His former bandmates 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 error, he was not guilty, he had to be.

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

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