A former pop star died of a stab wound to his chest in the kitchen of his Warlingham home - just minutes after apparently chatting to police officers and happily drinking tea.
David Emmanuel, 48 - who had a chart hit in the 1980s with Police Officer - suffered a five-inch stab wound and died in his Hillbury Road home in March 2011, a Woking inquest heard this afternoon (Wednesday).
Coroner Richard Travers said Mr Emmanuel - known in his chart hit heyday as Smiley Culture - seemed in good spirits when four Metropolitan Police officers visited his large, detached gated property.
They were due to arrest him in connection with a charge of conspiracy to import drugs, the inquest heard.
Mr Travers said: "One of the officers said he then saw Mr Emmanuel with a large kitchen knife in his hand.
"He will say that he shouted 'knife' to warn his colleagues - and that Mr Emmanuel held the knife with both hands before plunging it into his own chest."
Mr Emmanuel died before an air ambulance arrived on the scene, said the coroner.
Pathologist Robert Chapman said Mr Emmanuel had suffered a five-inch-deep wound which penetrated his heart.
Mr Chapman added: "The injury would have required moderate force, equating to something like a firm punch."
He gave the cause of death as blood loss from a single stab wound.
The inquest is expected to last two to three weeks.
An order was issued by the coroner that none of the four police officers should be identified.
