Reggae Star 'Plunged Knife into his own Chest'

Reggae star Smiley Culture plunged a kitchen knife into his own chest during a drugs raid at his house, an inquest heard today.

The 80s singer, whose real name was David Emmanuel, suddenly changed as officers searched his Surrey home after initially appearing calm and relaxed, the jury heard.

1 / 1

The 48-year-old father of two started screaming at the police before plunging the knife into his chest, the inquest heard.

Opening the inquest, Surrey coroner Richard Travers said four police officers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, arrived at about 7am on 15 March 2011 to search the house in Warlingham in connection with allegations of conspiring to import Class A drugs into the UK.

One of the officers had had previous dealings with the musician and always found him “courteous, respectful, and compliant,” the jury heard.

As a result he was deemed low risk.

Mr Travers explained that one of the officers remained with Mr Emmanuel while the other three searched the property.

During this time he appeared relaxed and was allowed to make himself a number of cups of tea, the coroner said.

The musician’s niece called at the address in the middle of the search and described her uncle as “calm and a little bewildered.”

But Mr Travers said: “You’ll hear from witness two (the police officer with Emmanuel) that he was coming to the end of the search... when Mr Emmanuel suddenly, without warning, stood up and witness two realised he - Mr Emmanuel - had a large knife in his hand.

“The officer says he shouted out ‘knife,’ so as to warn other colleagues which were present.

“Mr Emmanuel screamed: ‘Do you f**king want some of this or what about this?’

“You will hear that the face and body language completely changed and he was screaming.”

Using both hands he then plunged the knife into his chest.

Despite the efforts of officers to perform first aid he was declared dead at the scene in Hillbury Road.

The cause of death was haemorrhage as a result of a stab wound to the heart.

Home Office pathologist Robert Chapman said it was “impossible to say” who inflicted the chest wound because while it was “consistent with self infliction” the location and the angle of the wound “do not exclude actions by someone else”.

He added that no defensive injuries were found on Mr Emmanuel’s hands.

Dr Chapman said the singer had a “relatively high concentration” of the cannabis compound THC in his bloodstream, which showed that showed Mr Emmanuel had used the Class B drug within an hour of his death.

Mr Emmanuel had also been cautioned for an amount of cannabis found during the search.

Following Mr Emmanuel’s death, hundreds of protesters marched from Brixton to New Scotland Yard to call for a public inquiry.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission found no misconduct had taken place, despite describing aspects of the operation as unsatisfactory.

Smiley Culture found fame with 1980s hits including Police Officer and  Cockney Translation.

The hearing in front of a jury of five men and six women continues.