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Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an alleged prison attack, 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 offences including the sexual assault of a infant.

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

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

Coroner Statement

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison guard.

Mr Longstaff said emergency services were summoned 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 incision to the neck.

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He admitted 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.

Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and power who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding 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 attack, he was taken to medical facility with wounds which were not fatal.

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

Background of Ian Watkins?

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Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets.

The band started 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 disbanded immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His former group members spoke openly about their surprise and revulsion.

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished with him, I hoped 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 other bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, soon after.