Smiley Culture - Death

Death

On 15 March 2011, Emmanuel died, from a stab wound police say was self-inflicted, while the police were searching his house in Hillbury Road, Warlingham, Surrey, an hour and a half after officers arrived with a search warrant. A post-mortem examination revealed that he had died from a single stab wound to the heart. He is survived by his mother, son, daughter, sister and three brothers.

His death was investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. In their final report - which was neither made public nor made available to Emmanuel's family - the IPCC concluded that there was no evidence justifying the pressing of criminal charges against any of the four officers present at the house during the raid. Nonetheless, the report also pointed out flaws in the police raid and called on the MPS to improve the planning and execution of their drug seizures. However, Smiley's family raised concerns about the investigation, claiming that the IPCC “had let down” and that many “unanswered questions” remained. The conditions surrounding his death and the subsequent investigation were also questioned by members of the general public, his death often being considered in the context of police brutality and other black people dying in police custody. A study into the causes and consequences of the 2011 England riots, led by the London School of Economics in collaboration with the British newspaper The Guardian, identified Emmanuel's death, perceived by some as a prominent case of police abuse, as a contributing factor to the riots.