🔗 Share this article Cause of Child Sex Offender Musician's Jail Death Disclosed Police Department The disgraced rock star from Pontypridd was handed to 29 years in jail plus six years on extended supervision Disgraced Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after being stabbed in the neck in an alleged 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 offences including the sexual assault of a infant. 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 suspects, aged 23 and 39, detained earlier this week on suspicion of conspiracy to murder were sent back to prison as inquiries proceeded. Official Findings Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was referred to by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an on-call doctor and was officially 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 autopsy report gave the cause of death as an wound to the neck. 'Depths of Depravity' In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but admitted the sexual assault and abuse of a child under 13. He admitted 13 crimes, including plotting to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving creating, making or holding inappropriate images of children and one of possessing an shocking image involving a sex act on an creature. Prosecutors had portrayed him as a man influenced by celebrity, substances, and power who had committed crimes "exceeding imagination." Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new levels of wickedness". Watkins was also attacked in prison in 2023. Following that attack, he was taken to hospital with injuries which were not fatal. Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week accused with his murder, but were not asked to enter pleas. Who Was 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 distributed millions of albums across 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 popular charts. They disbanded promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013. His previous bandmates spoke publicly about their surprise and disgust. Bassist Stuart Richardson said in 2014: "Even though I was completely finished with him, I wished it was all a mistake, he was innocent, he had to be. "The first time, we knew the band was done. You can't go back from that." The remaining bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly formed a new band, No Devotion, shortly thereafter.