Cause of Child Sex Offender Musician's Jail Death Disclosed

Police Department

Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat 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 crimes including the sexual assault of a infant.

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

Two men have been charged with murder in connection to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of conspiracy to murder were returned to prison as inquiries proceeded.

Coroner Findings

Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an on-call doctor and was officially identified by a prison officer.

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

The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the throat.

'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 pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving taking, producing or possessing inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature.

Legal authorities had described him as a man influenced by celebrity, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."

Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new levels of depravity".

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. Following that incident, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not fatal.

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

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 success in the US, with their second and third albums reaching the top-40.

They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His former bandmates spoke openly about their shock and disgust.

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

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

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