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Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the neck in an alleged prison attack, an inquest has learned.

Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being assaulted 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 completion of an related murder trial.

Two men have been accused with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were returned to prison as investigations continued.

Official Findings

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

Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "after a report he had been attacked in the throat".

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

'Extreme Wickedness'

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

He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, producing or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature.

Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man influenced by fame, substances, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."

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

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that attack, he was taken to medical facility 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 pleas.

Background of Ian Watkins?

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

The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and distributed millions of albums across the world.

They released 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 attaining the top-40.

They separated promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His former group members spoke publicly about their shock and disgust.

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

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

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