Singer, real name David Emmanuel, said to have 'changed completely' after a relaxed chat and mugs of tea

The Metropolitan police say that reggae star Smiley Culture plunged a kitchen knife into his own chest after being arrested at his home, an inquest jury has been told.

The singer, whose real name was David Emmanuel, was said by a police officer named only as Witness Two to have "changed completely" after a relaxed chat and mugs of tea in his kitchen during a police search of his home, Surrey coroner Richard Travers told an inquest jury.

The inquest in Woking, Surrey, is expected to last up to three weeks and will hear evidence from the police officers involved, who have been granted anonymity. Travers ran through the police testimonies that the jury would hear in the coming weeks.

"You will hear from Witness Two that, when they were coming to the end of the search … Mr Emmanuel very suddenly and without warning stood up and Witness Two realised for the first time that he, Mr Emmanuel, had a large kitchen knife in his hand.

"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 Two, 'Do you fucking want some of this?' Or, 'What about this?' 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."

Travers, who was opening the inquest in Woking before a jury, said that four Metropolitan police officers went to Emmanuel's home, in Warlingham, Surrey, at 7am on 15 March 2011 to arrest the singer and to search the premises.

The police inquiries concerned allegations of conspiring to import class A drugs into the UK, he said.

He said that, at the time of his death, Emmanuel was already awaiting trial at Croydon crown court along with two co-defendants over allegations of "being concerned" in the supply of a Class A drug, to which he had pleaded not guilty.

He told the jurors they would hear evidence from Witness Two that he had been in the kitchen with Emmanuel and had been completing a record of potential evidence while the other three officers searched the house.

"For his part you will hear from Witness Two's evidence, Mr Emmanuel appeared to be relaxed and they chatted about a variety of things," Mr Travers told the jury.

"Mr Emmanuel was allowed to make himself a mug of tea on more than one occasion."

The 48-year-old star, who found fame with a string of 1980s hits including Cockney Translation and appeared on Top of the Pops and appeared on Top of the Pops, was found to have died from a single stab wound to the heart.

Travers said the jury would hear that Emmanuel's niece, Claudia Emmanuel, had arrived just before 8am on the day of his death, after trying unsuccessfully to ring her uncle.

She did not go into the house as she had to take her daughter to school, he said.

She saw her uncle from a distance, and asked him if he was OK, he said.

Ms Emmanuel said he looked calm but a "little bewildered", Travers told the jury.

"She told him she would come back once she had taken her daughter to school.

"By the time she did return, it, you will hear, was some time after 8.40am. You will hear that Mr Emmanuel had died."

The inquest heard from pathologists who examined Emmanuel's body.

Dr Nathaniel Cary, who carried out the second post-mortem examination, said: "My final conclusion is 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, although it is fair to say that the site chosen is one of the sites that may be used in self-infliction."

The inquest continues.