Father sentenced to 15 years for daughter’s tragic kitchen stabbing incident

A father who stabbed his 14-year-old daughter in the heart during a kitchen playfight has been jailed for life with a minimum of 15 years to be spent behind bars.

Scarlett Vickers collapsed and died after the blade was plunged 11cm into her chest by her dad Simon Vickers whilst her mother stood feet away cooking Spaghetti Bolognese.

The 50-year-old denied murder and manslaughter, insisting the family had been “mucking around” in June last year when tragedy struck.

He told the jury: “We were horse-playing. I must be the unluckiest man in the world” but he did not mention his violent past, including a conviction for wounding with intent and sentenced to two years’ detention in 1993 among six previous convictions.

Scarlett’s mother, Sarah Hall, 44, however insists she is standing by her partner of 27 years, who she maintains loved their only child and would never deliberately cause her harm.

Her mother Elaine said: “Scarlett was their only child. They doted on her. If Sarah thought he had done anything to her, she’d have been out of there.

“It’s definitely just been an accident because there’s no way he would have harmed her.”

“She’s lost her daughter and now she hasn’t got Simon to lean on.”

The jury heard how Vickers had drunk four glasses of wine and smoked half of a cannabis joint during the fatal evening at the home in Darlington, Durham.

He told the court he accepted causing Scarlett’s fatal chest wound but had no knowledge of touching the green-handled knife.

Jurors at Teesside Crown Court watched footage of Vickers being booked into custody at Darlington police station after being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He was later rearrested on suspicion of murder after Scarlett was pronounced dead at hospital.

He was heard saying: “I just want to know how my daughter’s doing. We were mucking about, playing in the kitchen, and for some reason this has gone really weird. We were mucking about. I can’t believe this.

“Please someone tell me. What’s going on We are going on holiday to f*****g Gran Canaria in six weeks. F*****g hell. I don’t believe this is happening. We were cooking tea. Just mucking about in the kitchen. I don’t understand how this has happened. Honestly.”

Emergency services raced to the family’s semi-detached home to find Scarlett lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.

Her killer suggested that he must have swiped the knife without realising, after attempting to “swing” a pair of kitchen tongs.

Sentencing Vickers, Mr Justice Cotter accepted the defendant was “devastated” and had been left a “broken man”.

He said: “You have lost your only child at your own hand and you will always live with that awful fact.”

The judge said he was taking into account this was a momentary act, with no premeditation and no intention to kill.

But he added: “Simon Vickers, only you know precisely what happened in that kitchen on that Friday evening which led to you fatally stabbing your only daughter at what should have been the safety of her own home.

“It was a momentary but devastating act of anger. It stole one young, precious life, ruined your life, your wife’s life and Scarlett’s relatives and friends.

“The clock cannot be turned back and you must now face the consequences that the law intends.”

The Judge had earlier told the court: “Scarlett was just 14, a normal, healthy girl with a long life ahead of her when it was cut short by you.

“She died in the kitchen of her own home within minutes of having been stabbed.

“It went from an ordinary, happy family Friday night to tragedy within seconds due to what must have been your loss of temper.

“There is no other plausible explanation.

“You have never given a truthful explanation of what happened.”

Justice Cotter said there was no evidence to suggest they had “anything other than a normal, loving family life”.

But addressing how Scarlett came to suffer an 11cm wound through her lung into her heart, the judge told Vickers: “Exactly what happened, only you know.”

Ms Hall did not see a knife sticking in her daughter, the judge said, because Vickers had immediately removed it and put it on the work top. The wound was “not the result of trifling force”, the judge said.

But he said the version of events that the defendant told the jury – that he had accidentally swiped the knife across the work surface and into his daughter’s chest without realising – was “unconvincing and wholly implausible”.

He said: “You have never accepted exactly what happened although you have accepted it was your actions that caused her death.

“Your beloved daughter deserved the truth and you have not given it.”

Vickers told the jury he had a “theory” that Scarlett may then have accidentally come onto the knife after it “hit the side of the hot-plate and stuck out over the side of the counter.”

He said: “I hadn’t done anything unlawful. I had thrown a pair of tongs as far as I was aware. We were mucking about, harmless fun. There was no knife in any equation whatsoever.”

But prosecutors successfully proved Vickers stabbed his daughter “deliberately with the knife” using forensic evidence to prove that the wound had been “too deep” to have been caused accidentally. Mark McKone, KC, prosecuting, told the dad during cross-examination: “I will have to suggest to you that you have not told the truth about how Scarlett was wounded.”

In his closing speech, Mr McKone said the prosecution accepted that Vickers was “devastated” and loved his daughter.

But he insisted the blow could not have been caused by it being accidentally swiped across a work surface and so deeply into her body.

Vickers sobbed as he gave evidence, pleading that he would never have hurt secondary school pupil, Scarlett, his only child with long-term partner Ms Hall.

Asked by his barrister Nicholas Lumley, KC, if he intended to cause her serious injury, Vickers told the jury: “No, never, never in this world. I would have given her my life.”

The dad told how the family had been preparing for a holiday in the Canary Islands and that Scarlett had been looking forward to the end of the school term.

He denied losing his temper, telling the court he was “relaxed and happy”.

He said the family were in their small kitchen when he asked them to pick up the thrown grapes because he wanted to bring their Labrador dog inside.

He said: “Sarah started picking the grapes up, Scarlett threw a few more so that’s when I started tickling her. We were at the back door, I was tickling her at the back door.

“Sarah started nipping me on the back with a pair of tongs, on the butt. I turned around and tried to grab the tongs off her, as I tried to grab them I caught my little finger on them. I did shout out. Scarlett said ‘dad, you’re a wimp’. I said ‘how would you like that’, just mucking about.”

Vickers said he then started “wafting” Scarlett’s hair and she pushed him away towards the kitchen counter when he swiped at the kitchen tongs.

He added: “As I went to sit on the seat, I heard Scarlett shout ‘ow, ow’. There was a delay of a couple of seconds. I looked up straight at her and I said: ‘what’s the matter’ She was just staring. She had a pink fluffy pyjama top on and all of a sudden lots of blood started coming out.”

Vickers sobbed again as he told the court how he had been refused permission to attend his daughter’s funeral while on remand in prison at HMP Durham.

He added that Scarlett was “our life, our whole purpose” and had been a “fantastic daughter”.

He told the jury: “I spoiled her. As my mum would say, she had me wrapped around her little finger.”

Nicholas Lumley KC, defending Vickers, asked Ms Hall if she ever had any concerns about Vickers care of his daughter and she replied: “No, never.”

Mr Lumley asked: “If you had thought he had murdered your daughter, would you still be with him” She said: “Definitely not, she was my number one, she was my best friend, my girl.”

Ms Hall said after the throwing of grapes she had turned away to start serving their meal, telling jurors: “I was aware they were still mucking around.” She wept as she told jurors the next thing she remembered was Scarlett saying “ow” and she turned around to her daughter. She was just looking at me, I said ‘What’s up’ and then I saw blood coming out of her side.”

She added: “I don’t know how it happened but I know he would never harm her so it didn’t even enter my head.”

Jurors were told by a Home Office pathologist that it would be “practically impossible” for a thrown knife to cause Scarlett’s fatal chest wound.

Dr Bolton said it was her opinion that the knife was being “held tightly” at the time, so that when it came into contact with Scarlett, it went into her. “That typically means a firm grip and that arm is braced in a certain way,” she said.

Asked by prosecutor Mark McKone KC if she thought the knife could have been thrown towards Scarlett, Dr Bolton said: “Kitchen knives aren’t designed to be thrown, they aren’t designed to go through the air.

“So, it is practically impossible for a kitchen knife to be thrown for it to travel in such a way that it lands on Scarlett’s clothing and then her skin at 90 degrees, so it doesn’t simply bounce off or scratch across, and then go 11cm in and apparently come out again.”

Mr McKone told jurors: “The knife must have been held firmly in the defendant’s hand at the time of the stabbing, with the defendant having a firm wrist and a firm elbow. The knife must have been firmly in the defendant’s hand to cause that wound, which was 11cm deep. The wound is too deep to have been caused accidentally.”

Following the guilty verdict senior crown prosecutor Anna Barker said: “The account provided by Simon Vickers about how his daughter, Scarlett, sustained a fatal injury is wholly inconsistent with the forensic evidence in this case. As part of our case against him, the Crown Prosecution Service instructed a medical expert, whose analysis made it clear that the nature of the wound sustained by Scarlett could only have been caused if the knife used had been firmly gripped as she was injured.”

“We have worked closely with Durham Police to meticulously piece together the tragic events which led to Scarlett’s death. Our thoughts remain with her family, for who this must remain a difficult time.”

Detective Superintendent Craig Rudd who led the investigation for Durham Constabulary said: “Scarlett Vickers would have celebrated her 16th birthday this year. She had her whole life ahead of her. Yet it was cruelly cut short by her own father – a man who was meant to protect her.

“We may never know why or what caused Simon Vickers to do what he did that night. Sadly, today’s verdict will not bring Scarlett back, but he will now face the consequences of his actions.

“I would like to thank my investigation team for their tireless efforts in getting justice for Scarlett and the community for their cooperation and understanding while we carried out our enquiries. Our thoughts remain with those who cared about Scarlett.”

Christopher Atkinson, Head of the Complex Casework Unit for CPS North East, said: “It is difficult to understand what motivated Simon Vickers to take the life of his daughter, Scarlett. In the absence of any plausible explanation on his part, we may never fully understand the circumstances which led to her tragic death.

“What is abundantly clear is that the account provided by Simon Vickers was wholly inconsistent with the forensic evidence in this case. Crucially, the medical expert we instructed to examine Scarlett’s injuries made it clear that they could only have been caused had the knife been firmly gripped as it made contact.

“The Crown Prosecution Service has worked closely with Durham police to build a robust case against Simon Vickers, securing his conviction, which saw him sentenced for her murder today.

“We appreciate that the nature of this case will have been incredibly emotive for Scarlett’s family, and our thoughts are with them at what must remain a very difficult time.”