🔗 Share this article Cause of Child Sex Offender Singer's Prison Death Disclosed Police Department The disgraced rock star from Pontypridd was sentenced to 29 years in prison plus six years on extended licence Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being stabbed in the neck in an reported prison attack, an inquest has learned. Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being assaulted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the attempted rape of a infant. The hearing, 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 relation to Watkins' death while two other men, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on allegation of plot to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries proceeded. Official Findings Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call 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 post-mortem report gave the cause of death as an incision to the throat. 'Depths of Depravity' In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to 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 sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, producing or holding inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an extreme image involving a sex act on an creature. Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by fame, substances, and power who had committed crimes "beyond imagination." Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "new ground" and "plunged into new depths of depravity". Watkins was also attacked 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, appeared in court last week charged with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas. Background of Ian Watkins? Media Archives Watkins appearing in London in 2012 Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets. The band started in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold 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 reaching the top-40. They disbanded immediately after Watkins was convicted in 2013. His former bandmates spoke openly about their surprise and disgust. Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished with him, I hoped it was all a error, he was not guilty, 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 created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.