A father has been found guilty of murdering his daughter after he stabbed her in the heart at their home in Darlington.
Simon Vickers, 50, was convicted of murder at Teesside Crown Court on Monday.
He gave different accounts of what happened in the seconds before he plunged a kitchen knife into his daughter Scarlett’s chest last July.
The 14-year-old died at the scene.
Prosecutors said the 11cm wound was too deep to have been caused accidentally, and the knife must have been “held firmly” at the time.
Vickers claimed the incident happened during a family play-fight in the kitchen.
Simon Vickers. Pic: Durham Constabulary
He had been drinking wine, watching the Euros football tournament on television and had smoked cannabis that day.
Scarlett’s mother, Sarah Hall, was making spaghetti bolognese for the family and, when Scarlett came down from her bedroom, they all started throwing grapes at each other for fun.
She said she then snipped at her partner with tongs and when he complained that it hurt, their daughter made reference to him being “wimpy”.
Ms Hall said she turned away to serve the meal and then heard Scarlett say “ow” and immediately saw that their only child was bleeding heavily.
She made a 999 call and told the operator they had been “messing about” and that her partner had thrown something at their daughter “and he didn’t realise”.
Prosecutor Mark McKone KC told jurors that paramedic Andrew Crow said initially Vickers and Ms Hall were unsure how the injury occurred.
“Then Scarlett’s mum said that Scarlett and her dad were play-fighting and ‘chucking’ knives at each other,” he continued.
“Mr Crow said that the defendant picked up a knife off the side counter of the kitchen and said ‘We were messing on, we were play-fighting and she lunged towards me and it just went in’.”
Giving evidence in his defence, Vickers insisted it had been a “freak accident”.
He claimed he had swiped what he thought were tongs along a work surface, into Scarlett’s chest, and didn’t realise it was a knife.
Home Office pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton told the jury the way the knife went into the teenager’s chest meant it must have been held in a hand, with force.
Scarlett’s mother – the only other person in the kitchen at the time – stood by her partner of 27 years and told the court Vickers loved their daughter and would never harm her.
Mr McKone said the prosecution accepted Vickers was “devastated” and loved his daughter.
But the blow could not have been caused by the knife being accidentally swiped across a work surface and so deeply into her body.
Jurors took 13 hours and 21 minutes to convict Vickers of murder by a majority of 10-2, rather than the less serious alternative of manslaughter, or to clear him.
Vickers did not visibly react in the dock, while Ms Hall and other family members in the public gallery looked stunned by the verdict.
Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, had told jurors Vickers had no desire to harm his daughter – and the prosecution did not put forward any motive.
He said Vickers “will bear moral responsibility for his daughter’s death for the rest of his life”.
Mr Lumley added: “However, he denies completely that he did anything unlawful or deliberate to cause that tragic death.”
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