🔗 Share this article

Police Department

Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the neck in an reported 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 attempted rape of a baby.

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

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 investigations continued.

Official Findings

Coroner 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 prison by an on-call doctor and was formally recognized by a prison guard.

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

The coroner said a post-mortem report gave the reason of death as an incision 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 plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.

Prosecutors had described him as a man corrupted by fame, 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 hospital with wounds which were not life-threatening.

Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week charged with his murder, but were not required to enter pleas.

Who Was Ian Watkins?

Media Archives

Watkins was formerly 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 across the world.

They produced five studio albums, one of which achieved 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 convicted in 2013.

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

Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Although I was completely finished 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 go back from that."

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