LONDON - Prosecutors say two men accused of plotting to rob and kill soul singer Joss Stone planned to decapitate her, then dump her body in a river.

The suspects, Junior Bradshaw and Kevin Liverpool, were arrested in June 2011, close to the singer's house after suspicious neighbours reported them to police. They never reached her house.

Opening the case at Exeter Crown Court, prosecutor Simon Morgan told a jury the pair, aged 32 and 35, set off from their home in Manchester with a samurai sword, knives, a hammer, black bags and gloves for Stone's house in Devon.

Morgan said that handwritten notes found in the suspects' car indicated they planned to decapitate the singer before finding a river to dispose of her body.

The defendants deny all charges.