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Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the neck in an reported prison incident, an inquest has learned.

Watkins, 48, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail 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 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 conspiracy to murder were returned to prison as inquiries proceeded.

Coroner Statement

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short hearing, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer.

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

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

'Depths of Depravity'

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

He pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving creating, producing or holding indecent images of children and one of having an extreme image involving a sex act on an animal.

Legal authorities had portrayed him as a man corrupted by celebrity, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination."

Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new depths of wickedness".

Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that incident, he was taken to medical facility with wounds 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 formerly one of Wales' most famous musicians - the frontman 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 reached number one in the UK.

The group also had some success in the US, with their second and third albums attaining the top-40.

They disbanded promptly after Watkins was found guilty in 2013.

His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their shock and revulsion.

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 finished. You can't return from that."

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