Killer dad stabbed daughter, 14, in heart during kitchen 'play fight'

Scarlett Vickers was killed by her dad, Simon Vickers
-Credit:Durham Police/PA


A dad has been found guilty of murdering his daughter after claiming she died in a play fight gone wrong. Simon Vickers said he thought he picked up kitchen tongs before pushing them into his 14-year-old daughter's chest.

But he was in fact holding an 11cm knife which pierced Scarlett Vickers' heart. The schoolgirl died at the scene after her mum, Sarah Hall, called 999.

A court heard Vickers, 50, had been watching the Euros in July last year and drinking wine. He had also been smoking cannabis before the incident at their home in Darlington.

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Ms Hall was the only other person in the room at the time and she stood by her partner of 27 years, telling Teesside Crown Court Vickers loved their only child and would never harm her intentionally. The jury took 13 hours and 21 minutes to convict him of murder by a majority of ten to two.

Ms Hall and other family members looked stunned in the public gallery when the verdict was returned, TeesideLive reports. Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, had told jurors earlier that Scarlett's death was not an accident and Home Office pathologist, Dr Jennifer Bolton, explained the way the knife went into Scarlett's chest meant it must have been held in a hand and used with force.

Mr McKone said the prosecution accepted Vickers was "devastated" and loved his daughter. But the blow could not have been caused by it being accidentally swiped across a work surface and so deeply into her body.

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He said: "If you accept Mr Vickers has lied about how Scarlett was killed, this must be because he has something important to cover up. This suggests he does not have a truthful account which he considers to be innocent for you to even consider.

"In other words, Mr Vickers has not got an innocent explanation for wounding Scarlett when the knife was held in Mr Vickers' hand."

Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, said Vickers had no desire to harm his daughter and the prosecution did not put forward any motive. He said Vickers "will bear moral responsibility for his daughter's death for the rest of his life".

Mr Lumley told the court: "However, he denies completely he did anything unlawful or deliberate to cause that tragic death."

On the day of the murder, Ms Hall was making spaghetti bolognese for the family and when Scarlett came down from her bedroom they threw grapes at each other in a playful manner. The mum then sniped at her partner with tongs and when he complained it hurt, their daughter made reference to him being "wimpy".

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Ms Hall said she turned away to serve the meal and then heard Scarlett say "ow" and the mother immediately saw their only child was pouring with blood. Ms Hall made a 999 call and told the operator they had been "messing about" and her partner had thrown something at their daughter "and he didn't realise".

Vickers told paramedic Andrew Crow his daughter lunged towards him during a play fight. In his prosecution opening speech to the jury, Mr McKone said: "Mr Crow said initially the defendant and Scarlett's mum said they were unsure how the injury occurred and then Scarlett's mum said Scarlett and her dad were play-fighting and 'chucking' knives at each other.

"Mr Crow said the defendant picked up a knife off the side counter of the kitchen and said 'We were messing on, we were play-fighting and she lunged towards me and it just went in'."

Vickers insisted it had been a "freak accident". He claimed he had swiped what he thought were tongs along a work surface, into her chest, and never realised it was a knife.

Vickers is set to be sentenced on February 10.