🔗 Share this article Reason of Child Sex Offender Musician's Jail Demise Revealed Police Department The shamed rock star from Pontypridd was sentenced to 29 years in jail plus six years on extended supervision Shamed Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat in an alleged prison attack, an investigation has heard. Watkins, forty-eight, died on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year prison sentence for child sex crimes including the sexual assault of a baby. The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an related murder case. Two individuals have been charged with murder in relation to Watkins' death while two other suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of plot to murder were sent back to prison as investigations proceeded. Official Statement Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the brief hearing, had been pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was formally recognized by a prison officer. Mr Longstaff said emergency services were summoned to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck". The examiner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound 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 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. Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man corrupted by fame, drugs, and influence who had committed crimes "beyond imagination." Mr Justice Royce said the case had established "unprecedented territory" and "descended into new levels of wickedness". Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to hospital with injuries 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? Media Archives Watkins appearing in London in 2012 Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most famous artists - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets. The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums around 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 disbanded promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013. His former group members spoke publicly about their surprise and revulsion. Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished with him, I wished 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 go back from that." The other bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.