Simon Vickers: UK man who allegedly stabbed 14-year-old daughter to death claims they were ‘play fighting’

A father who allegedly stabbed his daughter to death while preparing a meal claimed they had been play fighting, a court heard yesterday.

Simon Vickers, 50, is a accused of murdering Scarlett Vickers at their home on July 5 last year.

She died from catastrophic blood loss after the blade sunk more than four inches (11cm) into her chest and pierced her heart.

Prosecutors said the stabbing was deliberate and Vickers had given three different accounts of what happened.

But he insisted that he and his daughter were messing around and her death was an accident. Scarlett’s mother Sarah Hall told police Vickers had picked up the knife at the same time as a spatula and threw it at her by mistake. But Mark McKone, KC, told jurors: “The knife must have been firmly in the defendant’s hand to cause that wound. The wound is too deep to have been caused accidentally.”

Emergency services were called to the family home in Darlington, County Durham. Paramedics found Scarlett on the kitchen floor with a wound in the left of her chest.

She died at the scene. Body-worn footage captured Vickers telling police officers: “We were mucking about. We were cooking tea, we were mucking about playing around and started throwing objects at each other.”

He was arrested and, while being booked into custody at Darlington police station, said: “We were just playing in the kitchen. I don’t know how this happened. One minute I was cooking, next there’s blood gushing out of her chest.”

During an interview, Vickers was asked if he was responsible for causing Scarlett’s death and replied: “I must be.”

He told how Scarlett was “throwing grapes” at him and he was throwing some back. The prosecution said Scarlett’s injury “could not have been caused by throwing the knife or indeed by throwing anything else”.

Jurors heard that a forensic scientist who analysed the kitchen knife determined that it had been used in a “stabbing-type action”.

Mr McKone said: “He [Vickers] stated that he has a good relationship with Scarlett and that they are always play fighting and messing on, so to play fight like this was quite normal.

“The prosecution say that the defendant gave three different accounts at least before his formal police interview. One, that he had been throwing a knife. Two, that he had been throwing other items and three, Scarlett lunging towards the knife.”

He added: “The defendant’s account in interview does not fit with what the pathologist has said. Therefore the prosecution submit that the defendant must have been lying about what happened.”

Nicholas Lumley, KC, defending Vickers, said Scarlett’s death was a “tragic, tragic accident”.

He added: “She was their only child. He had no wish or desire to harm her in any way at all. Her body must have come into contact with a sharp knife. He, Simon Vickers, will bear moral responsibility for his daughter’s death for the rest of his life.”

Vickers denies murder. The trial continues.