A police officer giving evidence at the inquest into the death of eighties reggae star Smiley Culture claimed that the singer used a kitchen knife to stab himself.
Smiley Culture, real name David Emmanuel, grew up in Stockwell, South London, and had a string of hits in the mid- to late-eighties, including “Cockney Translation” and “Police Officer” in 1984. On 15 March 2011 he died from a stab wound during a police raid on his house, one week before he was due to appear in court on the charge of conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was 48 years old.
Coroner Richard Travers, speaking on behalf of a police officer known only as Witness 2, told the inquest jury that Emmanuel suddenly “completely changed” during the police raid on his home, moments after a relaxed chat over tea.
“You will hear from Witness 2 that, when they were coming to the end of the search… Mr Emmanuel very suddenly and without warning stood up and Witness 2 realised for the first time that he, Mr Emmanuel, had a large kitchen knife in his hand,” Travers told the jury.
“The officer says that he shouted out ‘knife’ so as to warn his colleagues, at which point, Mr Emmanuel, he says, held out his arm and screamed at Witness 2 ‘Do you f***ing want some of this?’ Or ‘What about this?’
“Witness 2 will tell you that Mr Emmanuel’s face and body language had completely changed, he became angry and was screaming.
“He will tell you that he, Mr Emmanuel, then held the knife with both hands and plunged it into his own chest.”
Nonetheless, the exact circumstances of Emmanuel’s death remain uncertain. Nathaniel Cary, who carried out the second post-mortem examination told the jury that “whilst it is clearly possible that the fatal stab wound was, as described, a self-inflicted injury, on pathological grounds alone there is nothing to determine that this was in fact the case.”
The inquest continues.
