Dad who claimed teen daughter's murder was 'freak accident' jailed for at least 15 years

A father has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 15 years for murdering his 14-year-old daughter.

Simon Vickers was found guilty last month of killing his daughter Scarlett Vickers after stabbing her in the heart at their home in Darlington, County Durham, in July 2024.

The 50-year-old, who denied charges of manslaughter and murder, gave different accounts of what happened in the seconds before he plunged a kitchen knife 11cm into her chest.

As it happened: Simon Vickers sentencing

Scarlett's mother, Sarah Hall, was the only other person in the room, and stood by her partner, previously telling Teesside Crown Court that Vickers would never have harmed her.

During sentencing, Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, said: "Sarah Hall remains resolute in her belief that the father of her only child did not intend Scarlett any harm and his parents are of the same view."

Ms Hall did not see the knife sticking in her daughter, the judge said, because Vickers immediately removed it and put it on the side in the kitchen.

The jury, by a majority of 10-2, convicted him of murder after 13 hours of deliberations, rather than the less serious alternative of manslaughter, or to clear him.

Ms Hall and other family members in the public gallery looked stunned when the verdict was delivered.

Vickers himself did not react in the dock.

During the trial, he insisted his daughter's death had been a "freak accident".

He claimed he had swiped what he thought were tongs along a work surface, into her chest, and never realised it was a knife.

Prosecutor Mark McKone KC had told jurors that Scarlett's death was not an accident.

Home Office pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton explained to the jury that how the knife went into Scarlett's chest meant it must have been held in a hand, with force.

Smoked cannabis and drank wine

During the sentencing, Mr Justice Cotter said Vickers had "smoked cannabis and drank some wine" after work.

After Scarlett came down around 10.15pm, she was said to have thrown grapes at her parents.

After a small exchange between the father and daughter, Scarlett told him not to be "a wimp" after her mother pinched him with tongs.

Vickers asked his daughter: "How would you like it?"

"Exactly what then happens only you know," The judge said, referring to the moment of the stabbing.

'Loss of temper'

He continued: "Scarlett was just 14, a normal, healthy girl with a long life ahead of her when it was cut short by you.

"She died in the kitchen of her own home within minutes of having been stabbed.

"It went from an ordinary, happy family Friday night to tragedy within seconds due to what must have been your loss of temper.

"There is no other plausible explanation."

He added: "You have never given a truthful explanation of what happened."

Speaking outside court, Detective Superintendent Craig Rudd said: "We may never know precisely what happened in that kitchen, but we can be certain there is no justification for what Simon Vickers did.

"Had he not picked up that knife Scarlett would still be alive today.

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