🔗 Share this article Reason of Child Sex Offender Singer's Jail Death Revealed Police Department The shamed rock star from Pontypridd was sentenced to 29 years in jail plus six years on extended licence Disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died after being attacked in the neck in an alleged prison attack, an investigation has learned. Watkins, 48, succumbed on 11 October after being targeted at HMP Wakefield, where he had been serving a 29-year jail sentence for child sex crimes including the sexual assault of a infant. The hearing, opened earlier at Wakefield Coroner's Court, was adjourned pending the completion of an related murder case. Two men have been charged with murder in connection 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 investigations proceeded. Coroner Statement Medical Examiner Oliver Longstaff said Watkins, who was identified by his full name of Ian David Karslake Watkins during the short proceeding, had been declared deceased at the West Yorkshire jail by an attending doctor and was formally identified by a prison officer. Mr Longstaff said paramedics were summoned to the jail "following a report he had been stabbed in the neck". The coroner said a autopsy report gave the cause of death as an incision to the throat. 'Depths of Depravity' In 2013 at Cardiff Crown Court, Watkins refuted rape but confessed to the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13. He admitted 13 crimes, including conspiring to rape a child, three counts of abuse involving children, seven involving creating, making or holding inappropriate 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, substances, and influence who had perpetrated crimes "exceeding imagination." Mr Justice Royce said the case had broken "unprecedented territory" and "plunged into new depths of depravity". Watkins was also stabbed in prison in 2023. After that attack, he was taken to hospital with injuries which were not life-threatening. Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, appeared in court last week accused with his murder, but were not required to enter pleas. Background of Ian Watkins? Media Archives Watkins performing in London in 2012 Watkins was formerly one of Wales' most famous musicians - the frontman of the rock band Lostprophets. The band formed in Pontypridd in 1997, and sold 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 attaining the top-40. They separated promptly after Watkins was convicted in 2013. His previous bandmates spoke openly 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 return from that." The remaining bandmates and American singer Geoff Rickly created a new band, No Devotion, soon after.