Father, 50, accused of murdering his daughter, 14, stabbed her to demise throughout ‘play struggle’ of their kitchen whereas cooking dinner, courtroom hears

A father stabbed his 14-year-old daughter to death during a ‘play-fight’ in their kitchen while cooking dinner, a court heard.

Simon Vickers, 50, is accused of murdering Scarlett Vickers at their home in Darlington, Co Durham, on July 5 last year.

She died from catastrophic blood loss after the blade penetrated 11cm deep into her chest and pierced her heart.

Opening the case at Teesside Crown Court, jurors heard how Vickers told a paramedic at the family home: ‘We were messing on. We were play-fighting and she lunged towards me and it just went in.’

Prosecutors claim Vickers, who denies murder, must have stabbed his daughter ‘deliberately with the knife’.

Opening the case, Mark McKone, KC, 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.’

Emergency services were called to the family home in Geneva Street on July 5 last year.

Paramedics found Scarlett prone on the kitchen floor with a stab wound to the left of her chest.

Body-worn footage captured Vickers telling police officers that he and his daughter had been playing in the kitchen after he and Scarlett’s mother, Sarah Hall, had been ‘drinking wine, having a nice day watching football’.

He told officers: ‘We were mucking about. What the f***.’

Vickers said: ‘We were cooking tea, we were mucking about playing around and started throwing objects at each other.’

Mrs Hall told police: ‘I have taken the kitchen knife out to cut garlic bread. He picked the spatula up at the same time and not realised the knife was with it.’

Prosecutors claim that the injury inflicted on Scarlett ‘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’.

Scarlett was declared dead at her home at 11.50pm, an hour after paramedics arrived at the property.

When police arrived, Vickers was recorded telling officers: ‘We were just throwing stuff about, how the f*** has this happened?

‘It wasn’t even hard, it was nothing. I don’t understand.

‘There wasn’t even any effort into it.’

Upon his arrest, Vickers was taken to Darlington police station. While being booked into custody, he 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.’

In his 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.

Summarising his police interview, Mr McKone said: ‘He said he went to get her, Scarlett pushed him away so he grabbed the tongs and threw them at her.

‘The defendant described probably picking the tongs up with his right hand, twisting and throwing them almost blindly over his left shoulder or arm.

‘In other words, throwing some kitchen tongs towards Scarlett.

‘The defendant said “and obviously I’ve picked the knife up”.

‘Vickers stated that he knows now that it was a knife, but he did not see the knife at the time.’

Mr McKone continued: ‘He 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 defendant denied telling paramedics that he had thrown a knife at Scarlett.’

Mr McKone said: ‘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 to the police about what had happened.’

Nicholas Lumley, KC, defending Vickers, told the jury that Scarlett’s death was a ‘tragic, tragic accident’.

He said: ‘She was was their only child. He had no wish or desire to harm her in any way at all. All three of the family had been having a normal Friday evening at home.

‘They had been messing around in the kitchen in a normal, playful way, when Mr Vickers suddenly realised that Scarlett had been injured.

‘Her body must have come into contact with a sharp knife and she quickly died as a result.

‘He, Simon Vickers, will bear moral responsibility for his daughter’s death for the rest of his life.

‘However, he denies completely that he did anything unlawful or deliberate to cause that tragic death.’

Vickers denies murder. The trial continues on Thursday.