A FORMER reggae star died from a stab wound to his chest in the kitchen of his Warlingham home – just minutes after apparently chatting to police and happily drinking tea.
David Emmanuel, 48 – who had a chart hit during the 1980s with Police Officer when he was known as Smiley Culture – suffered a five-inch stab wound.
He died in his Hillbury Road home in March 2011, a Woking inquest heard.
Coroner Richard Travers said Mr Emmanuel seemed in good spirits when four Metropolitan Police officers visited his large, detached gated property.
One officer – named as Witness 1 at the hearing – said he always found Mr Emmanuel courteous and respectful when he had met him in the past.
In the coroner's opening statement, Mr Travers said: "He (the unnamed officer) never felt threatened by him.
"On the contrary, he found him to always be calm, relaxed and quite charming."
Police searched Mr Emmanuel's home that morning, the inquest was told.
They found some cannabis in the house, for which Mr Emmanuel was arrested and cautioned.
Mr Emmanuel – described at the hearing as a music entrepreneur – had been due to stand trial at Croydon Crown Court the following week on a charge of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.
Mr Travers described how the mood suddenly turned sour.
The coroner 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 at which point he (Mr Emmanuel) held out his left arm and screamed 'do you ****ing want some of this?'
"Mr Emmanuel held the knife with both hands before plunging it into his own chest."
The stricken man died before an air ambulance arrived on the scene, said the coroner, despite efforts to resuscitate him.
Pathologist Robert Chapman said Mr Emmanuel had suffered a five-inch-deep wound which penetrated his heart and his left lung.
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.
A jury of six women and five men will decide on the inquest verdict.
An order was issued by the coroner that none of the four police officers should be identified.
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