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Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the neck in an reported prison incident, an investigation has heard.

Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex offences including the attempted rape of a infant.

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

Two men have been accused with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of conspiracy to murder were returned 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 short hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.

Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called to the jail "after 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 denied rape but confessed to the sexual assault and abuse of a child under 13.

He admitted 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal.

Prosecutors had described him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding 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. After that incident, 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 required to enter pleas.

Who Was Ian Watkins?

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

The band started 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 attaining the top-40.

They separated promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His former bandmates spoke publicly 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 mistake, he was not guilty, he had to be.

"The first time, we knew the band was finished. You can't go back from that."

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