A father who stabbed his teenage daughter to death during a kitchen playfight has been jailed for life.
Simon Vickers, 50, plunged a knife 11cm into the chest of his daughter Scarlett, 14, piercing her heart and causing catastrophic blood loss.
The warehouse worker claimed his only child died in a ‘freak accident’ at their home in Darlington, County Durham, when he swiped a knife across a kitchen worktop last July.
He later told police upon his arrest: ‘I must be the unluckiest man in the world’.
But jurors rejected his version of events, convicting him of murder after an expert pathologist concluded that the 11cm stab wound could not have been inflicted accidentally.
Vickers will have to serve at least 15 years in prison before he can apply for parole.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Cotter told Vickers: ‘Scarlett was a normal, healthy young 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.’
Simon Vickers, 50, (pictured) plunged a knife 11cm into the chest of daughter Scarlett, 14, piercing her heart and causing catastrophic blood loss
Scarlett, 14, (pictured) was killed by her father during a ‘playfight’ in the kitchen
He added: ‘Only you know precisely what happened in that kitchen on that Friday evening which led to you stabbing your own daughter in what should have been in the safety of your own home.’
Emergency services were called to the family’s semi-detached home in Geneva Road shortly before 11pm on July 5 last year.
Scarlett was found bleeding out with a knife wound that had pierced through her pyjama top and into her chest and heart.
Vickers, who had drunk four glasses of wine and smoked half a cannabis joint, told police that the pair had been ‘just mucking around’ while his partner Sarah Hall cooked spaghetti bolognaise for their supper, having enjoyed a ‘nice’ evening watching the European Championship football.
While being booked into custody at Darlington police station, Vickers said: ‘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***ing Gran Canaria in six weeks. F***ing hell. I don’t believe this is happening.’
Vickers, who worked at the 3M manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe, insisted through his trial that he did not deliberately pick up a knife and believed he had ‘swiped’ a pair of kitchen tongs towards Scarlett while engaging in ‘horseplay’.
While accepting he must have caused the fatal wound, he denied both murder and manslaughter.
He later told the jury of 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’.
No motive was put forward by the prosecution as to why Vickers murdered Scarlett.
But they said his account did not explain the findings of pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton that an accidental stabbing was ‘practically impossible’ and that the knife must have been held with a ‘firm grip’
Mr Justice Cotter said that the force used was not ‘trifling’ and that Vickers had acted in a ‘flash of anger’.
He said: ‘Simon Vickers, you’ve given different accounts of what has happened, specifically that she was stabbed by accident, that you’d been throwing knives, that you’d thrown a spatula or tongs, that Scarlett lunged towards the knife, and that you were swiping tongs along the kitchen surface.
‘Indeed, the unconvincing and wholly implausible version of events you gave to the jury involved you swiping tongs along the kitchen surface before them flying up into the air, and that you’d not even been aware of a knife before or after Scarlett suffered injury.
‘Indeed, you said the knife wasn’t in any equation except when Sarah Hall had been cutting onions.
‘Given the evidence of the pathologist, this was clearly untrue. She came by that fatal injury through your hand.’
Vickers retains the support of his partner Sarah, 44, parents Barrie, 78, and Patricia, 75, and wider family members, who still believe he is innocent.
Sarah was initially also charged with murder but the prosecution was dropped ahead of her partner’s trial, during which she gave evidence on his behalf.
She described Scarlett as ‘my number one, my best friend, my little girl’ and told the court: ‘It was an accident, I know he would never harm her.
‘She always came first for the both of us.’
The court heard that Scarlett was a ‘miracle baby’ who arrived despite Vickers and Sarah being told they were unlikely to have children.
Nicholas Lumley, KC, defending Vickers, said: ‘Each of those left behind by Scarlett have been serving life sentences of their own from which none of them will ever be free.
‘Simon Vickers has always accepted that by his actions he brought about the death of his only child.
‘Both of Scarlett’s parents could not believe that their only child had died that night.
‘And Sarah Hall remains resolute in her belief that the father of their only child did not intend Scarlett any harm and his parents are of the same view.
‘None of them can in fact believe he is now to be known as Scarlett’s murderer.’
Mr Lumley added: ‘In virtually every case where a parent stands convicted of killing a child there are statements from the remaining parents, the grandparents, the friends of the child, staff at school – all sorts of sources.
‘Where they speak not just of their loss but their desire for vengeance, their insatiable desire for the court to impose the greatest possible punishment upon the killer of a child.
‘My Lord knows, there is no such thing here.’
Vickers was previously convicted in 1993 for wounding a man with a Stanley knife aged 19, the court heard.
Scarlett’s death sparked an outpouring of sorrow with her headteacher, Su Gill, of Haughton Academy School, describing her as a ‘lovely, respectful and polite girl.’
‘Scarlett was a lovely girl and an important member of the Haughton Academy community.
‘She was always immaculately turned out, respectful and polite.’
The judge said he believed that Vickers had drunk more than the four glasses of red wine that he claimed and that he lashed out at Scarlett in a ‘flash of anger’.
He said: ‘Scarlett came home and was in her bedroom, whilst you watched football on the television.
‘You then joined Sarah Hall as she cooked your evening meal. Scarlett came downstairs at about 10.15pm to join you in that small kitchen.
‘She and her mother were throwing grapes. You wanted them to stop.
‘Sarah Hall then pinched you on the bottom from behind with some cooking tongs.
‘As you turned, she caught your finger with the tongs and you said ‘ow, Scarlett’. She then said words to the effect of ‘Dad, don’t be a wimp’.
‘Sarah Hall turned her back to resume cooking and heard you say to Scarlett ‘how would you like it?’
‘Exactly what then happened, only you know.’
Mr Justice Cotter added: ‘Although you have accepted it was your actions that caused her death, your beloved daughter deserved the truth but you have not given it.’
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.’
