Dad accused of stabbing daughter to death says they were just ‘mucking about’

A father accused of stabbing his teenage daughter to death has claimed they were just ‘mucking about’ in the kitchen.

Simon Vickers, 50, previously told a court 14-year-old Scarlett died in a ‘freak accident’ which happened while the pair were playfighting in their home in Darlington, Co Durham.

On Monday he claimed he must have flung the knife at her by accident while fumbling to pick up a pair of tongs to chase her with.

He accepted causing Scarlett’s death on July 5 last year but insisted he had no idea there was a knife near them, denying both murder and manslaughter.

Asked if he intended to cause her any harm, the Vickers said: ‘No, none whatsoever.’

Vickers said he had drunk three to four glasses of wine and smoked a cannabis joint while watching football with Scarlett’s mum, Sarah Hall, earlier in the day.

He told the court he was later with Ms Hall in the kitchen, who was cooking dinner, when Scarlett came down from her bedroom saying she was bored.

Vickers said: ‘We turned our tea off so we could have a bit of craic and knock about a bit.

‘Scarlett mentioned she was still a bit hungry and there were some grapes on the breakfast bar. She started eating some grapes.

‘I’m not sure who started first … but we all started throwing grapes around for a bit, just mucking about.’

He told the court: ‘There were quite a few grapes on the floor and I said we needed to pick them up because I wanted to bring the dog in … Scarlett threw a few more. That’s when I started tickling her.

‘Sarah started grabbing me on the back with a pair of tongs, on the butt.

‘I turned round to grab the tongs off her, mucking about, and she caught my little finger in them.

‘I did shout “ow” and Scarlett said “Dad you’re a wimp”, so I said to her: “How would you like it?”‘

Vickers said the remarks were ‘in jest’ and that his daughter had ‘called me a lot worse than that’ before.

He told the court: ‘(Scarlett) was very proud of her hair, she had nice long hair, and I started wafting it but she started pushing me when I was trying to get it.

‘She was pushing me in the direction of where the tongs were.

‘I put my hand on top of the tongs and swiped them along the kitchen worktop.

‘They hit the corner of this hot plate and that’s why they flew off.’

He later said he intended to pick the tongs up and chase Scarlett with them, but they flew out of his hand when he tried to catch them.

‘I had not touched a knife all day,’ Vickers said, adding that the tongs were the only utensil he had touched.

The defendant said he had not seen a knife on the worktop, and did not know Scarlett had been hurt until she shouted: ‘Ow, ow, ow.’

He told jurors: “She had a pink fluffy pyjama top on. All of a sudden blood just started coming out of it. Loads of it.’

Vickers said he called emergency services and tried to help Scarlett while Ms Hall stayed on the phone.

He became emotional as he said: ‘Scarlett was just laying there, staring, she wasn’t saying anything. Then she started gasping for breath.

‘That’s when I started shouting “Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett”.

‘Then she stopped breathing, just stopped, nothing. Her eyes just went like dolls’ eyes, everything just stopped.’

Asked again if he intended to harm Scarlett, Vickers said: ‘No, never. Never in this world. I’d have given my life.’

He added: ‘I had just thrown a pair of tongs as far as I was aware. We were mucking about, it was harmless fun … There was no knife in any equation whatsoever apart from Sarah will have been using it to cut onions at the start of the tea.

‘I now know she had got a knife out and put it next to this hot plate to cut the garlic bread about a minute before this happened.’

Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton previously told the jurythe knife must have been ‘held tightly’ in order to cause the 11cm wound that killed Scarlett.

The trial continues.

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