THE FAMILY of a dad who claimed he stabbed his daughter to death in a play-fight vowed to stand by him today as he was jailed for life.
Simon Vickers, 50, plunged a knife 4in into 14-year-old Scarlett’s heart after “mucking around” in the family kitchen last June.
Durham ConstabularyScarlett Vickers, 14, died from being stabbed in the chest by her dad[/caption]
PAThe teenager’s dad Simon, 50, was jailed for life for her murder[/caption]
Sarah Hall, the mother of 14-year-old Scarlett Vickers, outside Teesside Crown CourtNNP
Experts dismissed his defence and insisted it was “practically impossible” for it to have been an accident due to the depth of the wound.
He must have been holding the knife with a “firm grip” to pierce her pyjamas and chest, they said.
But his family said they were united behind him today as a judge sentenced him to a minimum term of 15 years for her murder.
Vickers’s dad, Barrie, 78, told The Sun: “He would never in a million years have hurt her deliberately.
“Scarlett was his life. Simon would have killed himself before he laid one finger on that girl.
“And I’d be the first one not to speak to him again had I thought for one second he did it.
“We know Simon wouldn’t have killed her. We know the truth. It was an accident.”
He said Vickers’ partner Sarah Hall – Scarlett’s mum – was “absolutely broken” after he was found guilty by a jury.
He added: “Sarah’s lost her daughter and now she’s lost her partner – but she’s standing by him.”
Prosecutors offered no motive for the killing at Teesside crown court.
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.
“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.”
But sentencing Vickers, Mr Justice Cotter told him: “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.
“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 had been cutting onions.
“Given the evidence of the pathologist, this was clearly untrue. She came by that fatal injury through your hand.”
He said factory worker Vickers had cut short Scarlett’s life in a “flash of anger” at the family home in Darlington, Co Durham.
The judge added: “Exactly what happened, only you know.
“Although you have accepted it was your actions that caused her death, your beloved daughter deserved the truth but you have not given it.”
Vickers’ strange behaviour while being booked into custody suite
CHILLING footage showed Vickers being booked into a custody suite while moaning about an upcoming holiday.
He tells officers: “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.
“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.
“I don’t understand how this has happened. Honestly.”
Vickers claimed the playfight started when he and Scarlett began throwing grapes at each other while mum Sarah Hall made dinner.
Scarlett had told him not to be a “wimp” after Sarah pinched him with tongs, causing him to reply: “How would you like it?”
He said he went to “try and get her” but his daughter tried to push him away so he grabbed the tongs and chucked them.
The dad continued: “She just shouted ‘ah, ah ah’ and fell to the floor.
“Her lips were going bluer and she wasn’t listening when I was shouting at her.
“Sarah took over and the ambulance came and, f***ing hell.”
Vickers described his only child as the “love of my life” and told police his world had “gone to s***”.
Vickers has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 15 years after being found guilty for Scarlett’s murder at their home in Darlington, County Durham, on July 5 last year.
The monster, who had been drinking wine and smoking cannabis, claimed he and Scarlett were just “messing about” when he accidentally threw the blade at her.
But Teesside Crown Court heard the 11cm wound, which penetrated the teen’s fluffy dressing gown and bra, was too deep to have been a tragic mistake.
It was today revealed for the first time that Vickers was previously convicted in 1993 for attacking a man with a Stanley knife.
The dad claimed the playfight had started when he and Scarlett began throwing grapes at each other while mum Sarah made dinner.
He denied telling paramedics at the scene that he picked up a knife and that it “just went in” after Scarlett “lunged towards me”.
The dad added: “There is no way in the world I would stab my child. I threw those tongs at her.
“I want to die myself. My only child – I don’t know what to say. I can’t even cry. I don’t even know what’s wrong.”
The court heard the dad gave “three different accounts at least” before his formal police interview of what happened.
Prosecutor Mark McKone KC said Vickers must have stabbed his daughter “deliberately with the knife”.
He told jurors the injury inflicted to Scarlett “could not have been caused by throwing the knife or indeed by throwing anything else”.
During her evidence, Scarlett’s mum Sarah Hall said she believed it was an accident.
She also told how she would not be standing by her partner of 27 years if she thought he had deliberately hurt their daughter.
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.
“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.”
EnterpriseScarlett suffered from catastrophic blood loss after the blade was plunged into her chest[/caption]
PAThe knife that pierced Scarlett’s heart[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
