Scarlett Vickers: Father claims fatal stabbing of daughter during 'play fight' was 'freak accident'

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A father accused of fatally stabbing his 14-year-old daughter during a kitchen “play-fight” was a “freak accident” resulting from what he described as “harmless fun”.

Speaking at Teesside Crown Court, Simon Vickers, 50, denied charges of both murder and manslaughter, claiming he unintentionally caused Scarlett’s death by swiping a pair of tongs that inadvertently struck a knife, which fatally stabbed her.

The court heard that Scarlett died from an 11cm stab wound to the heart at their home in Darlington, County Durham, on July 5, 2022. Prosecutors argued the injury could not have been accidental, saying the knife would have had to be “held firmly” to cause such a deep wound.

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Vickers claimed the incident began as lighthearted family fun in the kitchen, with his partner Sarah Hall cooking tea and Scarlett joining them to “knock about.”

He explained: “We turned our tea off so we could have a bit of craic and knock about a bit. Scarlett mentioned she was still a bit hungry and there were some grapes on the breakfast bar. She started eating some grapes. I’m not sure who started first … but we all started throwing grapes around for a bit, just mucking about.”

The playful atmosphere escalated when Hall playfully grabbed Vickers with tongs. “Sarah started grabbing me on the back with a pair of tongs, on the butt. I turned round to grab the tongs off her, mucking about, and she caught my little finger in them. I did shout ‘Ow’ and Scarlett said, ‘Dad you’re a wimp,’ so I said to her, ‘How would you like it?’”

Durham Police

Vickers said he swiped the tongs along the kitchen worktop, unaware of a knife nearby. “They hit the corner of this hot plate and that’s why they flew off,” he said, adding, “I had not touched a knife all day.”

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He claimed he only realised Scarlett had been injured when she shouted: “Ow, ow, ow.”“She had a pink fluffy pyjama top on. All of a sudden blood just started coming out of it. Loads of it,” Vickers told the court.

Vickers became emotional as he described Scarlett’s final moments, saying he called emergency services while Hall was on the phone. “Scarlett was just laying there, staring, she wasn’t saying anything. Then she started gasping for breath. That’s when I started shouting ‘Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett.’ Then she stopped breathing. Her eyes just went like dolls’ eyes, everything just stopped.”

When asked if he intended to harm his daughter, Vickers replied: “No, never. Never in this world. I’d have given my life.”

Prosecutors questioned the likelihood of the injury being accidental. In cross-examination, Vickers admitted he must have swiped the knife alongside the tongs but maintained it was unintentional. “This could only ever have been a freak accident,” he told the court.

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Vickers described fatherhood as the “best feeling I’ve ever had,” revealing that he and Hall had long struggled to conceive and had previously suffered a miscarriage. “I spoiled her – as my mum would say, she had me wrapped round her little finger. The three of us were inseparable,” he said.

Vickers said he later learned the knife had been placed on the worktop by Hall to cut garlic bread shortly before the incident. Reflecting on the tragedy, he said: “I had just thrown a pair of tongs as far as I was aware. We were mucking about, it was harmless fun … There was no knife in any equation whatsoever apart from Sarah will have been using it to cut onions at the start of the tea.”

The trial continues.

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