Former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died from a stab wound to the neck, an inquest opening has heard.
Disgraced rock star Watkins, 48, died after an alleged assault at HMP Wakefield, the place he was serving a 29-year sentence for little one sexual offences, together with conspiring to rape an 11-month-old child and three counts of sexual assault involving kids.
On Friday an inquest into Watkins’ dying was opened and adjourned at Wakefield Coroner’s Courtroom.
Coroner Oliver Longstaff stated Watkins, who was referred to by his full identify of Ian David Karslake Watkins in the course of the temporary listening to, was pronounced useless on the West Yorkshire jail on October 11 by an attending physician, and was formally recognized by a jail officer.
Mr Longstaff stated paramedics had been known as to the jail, the place Watkins was a serving prisoner, ‘following a report he had been stabbed within the neck’.
The coroner stated a autopsy report gave the reason for dying as an incision to the neck.
He stated different prisoners had been charged with homicide and the coroner’s investigation can be suspended ‘pending the result of the legal justice course of’.
Mr Longstaff stated: ‘Whether or not an inquest into the dying requires to be resumed following the conclusion of that legal course of is a matter of full hypothesis and stays to be seen.’
The inquest heard Watkins was born in Wales in 1977.
Inmates Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, have been charged with murdering Watkins.
This week West Yorkshire Police stated two extra males from the jail had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to homicide.
The lads, aged 23 and 39, had been bailed and returned to jail whereas inquiries proceed.
Gedel, who was known as Rico Gedel in courtroom, and Dodsworth appeared in courtroom final week charged with homicide however weren’t requested to enter pleas.
Dodsworth appeared through video hyperlink from HMP Wakefield however Leeds Crown Courtroom heard Gedel had refused to attend remotely as he wished to seem in particular person.
Decide Man Kearl, the Recorder of Leeds, set a provisional date of Might 5 for the trial, which is anticipated to take two to 3 weeks.
Watkins was jailed for 29 years in December 2013, with an additional six years on licence, after admitting a string of intercourse offences – together with the tried rape of a fan’s child.
The disgraced singer was arrested following the execution of a medication warrant at his Pontypridd house on September 21, 2012, when numerous computer systems, cell phones and storage gadgets had been seized.
Evaluation of the tools uncovered Watkins’ wicked behaviour.
Forward of the conclusion of his trial, Lostprophets, which was based in 1997 by Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze, cancelled all their reveals and disbanded.
Talking earlier this yr, co-founder Gaze, 50, addressed the best way the band ended for the primary time, calling them the ‘most unimaginable circumstances’ which might be ‘nonetheless painful to consider’.
‘Issues may’ve been so totally different,’ he added on-line.
‘I don’t discuss it a lot, however I put every thing into that band, and it ought to’ve lasted a lifetime. I by no means actually wronged anybody my complete life, so it appeared like the final word punishment.’
In the wake of Watkins dying, he wrote on X that it was ‘onwards and upwards’ and that ‘music is what retains us sane’.
The group had a giant cult following, with Watkins utilizing his standing within the band to prey on followers, with two providing up their infants to be abused.
In courtroom, the ex-musician was described as ‘a decided and dedicated paedophile’, and Lord Justice Christopher Pitchford stated his acts had been ‘surprising’.
Watkins additionally had two co-defendants, who had been followers of his and moms of his victims. They obtained sentences of 14 and 17 years.
In 2014, Watkins was refused the precise to enchantment towards his sentence.
Watkins was beforehand taken to hospital after being attacked in 2023. On the time, police stated his accidents weren’t believed to be life-threatening.
A supply instructed the Mirror he had been taken hostage by three different inmates.
In 2019 he was jailed for 10 months on high of the sentence he was serving for little one intercourse offences after he was discovered responsible of possessing a cell phone in jail.
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