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Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has learned.

Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted 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 associated murder trial.

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

Coroner Findings

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 prison by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison guard.

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

The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an incision to the neck.

'Extreme Wickedness'

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

He admitted 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, producing or holding inappropriate images of children and one of having an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.

Prosecutors had described him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "beyond 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 hospital with injuries 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 pleas.

Who Was Ian Watkins?

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

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed 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 top-40.

They disbanded immediately after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His previous bandmates spoke openly about their surprise 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 finished. You can't return from that."

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