A father who murdered his teenage daughter by stabbing her with a knife while they were “mucking about” in the kitchen has been jailed for life.
A high court judge, Mr Justice Cotter, said Simon Vickers, 50, would serve at least 15 years in jail for killing 14-year-old Scarlett Vickers.
Vickers, of Darlington, County Durham, had denied charges of murder and manslaughter and gave different accounts of what might have happened on the night Scarlett died. He categorically denied intentionally or knowingly inflicting the wound that killed her.
The only other person in the house that night was Sarah Hall, Scarlett’s mother and Vickers’ partner of 27 years. She gave evidence for the defence, saying Vickers would never harm their only child.
A forensic pathologist told a trial at Teesside crown court in Middlesbrough that Scarlett’s fatal injury, a stab to the heart, could only have been caused by a knife that was held and used with force.
After more than 13 hours of deliberation the jury found Vickers guilty of murder by a 10-2 majority.
Sentencing Vickers, the judge said he was sure that the defendant had lied throughout and had killed Scarlett in a moment of anger.
“Scarlett was just 14, a normal, healthy girl with a long life ahead of her when it was cut short by you,” he said. “It went from an ordinary, happy family Friday night to tragedy within seconds due to what must have been your loss of temper.”
The prosecution did not offer a motive for the murder. Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, said Vickers was lying to the jury and that he may have been “irritated” by his daughter’s behaviour that night.
The court heard Vickers had smoked a cannabis joint and drunk at least four glasses of red wine at the family home on 5 July. After watching football on the TV, he was in the kitchen with Scarlett and Hall when they started “mucking about”. The horseplay began with throwing grapes, and became tickling and then nipping with kitchen tongs.
In the course of this, Scarlett was stabbed, suffering an 11cm wound to her chest. She bled to death at the scene.
Vickers initially told police that he must have accidentally thrown the knife at her, thinking he had something else in his hand.
Giving evidence, he said that was not what had happened and that it may have been a freak accident, with him accidentally swiping the knife along a work surface and it somehow going into her chest.
After he was arrested, Vickers told police: “I must be the unluckiest man alive”.
The judge accepted that Vickers was devastated by Scarlett’s death and was a broken man. “Only you know what happened in the kitchen that night,” he said. “Your beloved daughter deserved the truth and you have not given it.”
Cotter said he was not sure if alcohol had contributed to the offence but he was convinced it was caused by “a flash of anger”.
The court heard that Vickers had a conviction from more than 30 years ago, when he was 19, for wounding with intent using a Stanley knife, for which he was sentenced to two years’ detention.
The defence barrister, Nicholas Lumley KC, said Vickers had, as an adult, led an otherwise blameless life.
Vickers’ partner and his parents remained “resolute that he never meant her any harm”, Lumley added. “None of them can in fact believe he is now to be known as Scarlett’s murderer.”
Det Supt Craig Rudd, who led the investigation for Durham police, called it “an incredibly heartbreaking case for everyone involved”.
He added: “We may never know precisely what happened in that kitchen, but we can be certain here is no justification for what Simon Vickers did. Had he not picked up that knife, Scarlett would still be alive today.”
