🔗 Share this article Cause of Paedophile Musician's Prison Death Disclosed Police Department The shamed rock star from Pontypridd was handed to 29 years in prison plus six years on extended licence Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins passed away after being attacked in the throat in an alleged prison incident, an inquest has learned. Watkins, forty-eight, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been completing a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the sexual assault of a baby. The inquest, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was postponed pending the completion of an associated murder case. Two individuals 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 plot 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 pronounced dead at the West Yorkshire prison by an attending doctor and was formally recognized by a prison officer. Mr Longstaff said paramedics were called 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 neck. 'Depths of Depravity' In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins denied rape but confessed to the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13. He pleaded guilty to 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, producing or holding indecent images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an animal. Legal authorities had described him as a man influenced by fame, drugs, and power who had committed crimes "beyond 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 attack, he was taken to hospital with wounds which were not life-threatening. Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, were presented in court last week charged with his murder, but were not required to enter pleas. Background of Ian Watkins? Media Archives Watkins performing in London in 2012 Watkins was once one of Wales' most recognisable musicians - the lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets. The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold millions of albums around the world. They released 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 reaching the top-40. They separated promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013. His previous group members spoke openly about their shock and revulsion. Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely done with him, I wished 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 remaining members and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.