Dad who ‘stabbed daughter, 14, to death’ claimed they were just ‘play-fighting when he plunged knife through her chest’

A DAD accused of murdering his 14-year-old daughter claimed they were just “play-fighting” when she was stabbed to death, a court heard.

Scarlett Vickers suffered catastrophic blood loss after the blade was plunged 11cm into her chest and pierced her heart.

Her dad Simon Vickers, 50, is accused of murdering his teen daughter at their home in Darlington, Co Durham, on July 5 last year.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Vickers claimed he and his daughter were just “messing about” when the horror unfolded.

He told a paramedic: “We were play-fighting and she lunged towards me and it just went in.”

But prosecutor Mark McKone KC told jurors Vickers must have stabbed his daughter “deliberately with the knife”.

He said the injury inflicted to Scarlett “could not have been caused by throwing the knife or indeed by throwing anything else.”

The prosecutor added: “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.”

Jurors heard emergency crews found Scarlett on the kitchen floor with a stab wound to the left of her chest.

Vickers told police he and Scarlett’s mum Sarah Hall had been drinking wine, having a nice day watching football“.

He told officers: “We were mucking about. What the f***.”

Vickers claimed they were making dinner when he and his daughter started to chuck “objects” at each other.

His wife added: “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.”

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

After he was taken to the police station, Vickers said: “One minute I was cooking, next there’s blood gushing out of her chest.”

Jurors heard that during his police interview, Vickers 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.

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.”

The court heard how the dad gave “three different accounts at least before his formal police interview”.

These were him throwing the knife, that he was throwing other items and that Scarlett had “lunged towards the knife”.

But jurors heard a forensic scientist who analysed the weapon determined that it had been used in a “stabbing-type action”.

Nicholas Lumley, KC, defending Vickers, told the court 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.