Dad denies murdering daughter during kitchen 'play-fight'
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A father accused of murdering his 14-year-old daughter by stabbing her in the heart told emergency services they were just play-fighting in the kitchen at the time, a court has heard. Simon Vickers, 50, denies both the murder and manslaughter of his daughter Scarlett Vickers in the kitchen of their family home in Darlington on 5 July last year.
He told police they had been playing, and then the next moment blood was "gushing" from the girl's chest, Teesside Crown Court heard. But the prosecution told jurors this was not an accident. 'Messing around in a normal playful way'. Defence barrister Nicholas Lumley KC said the father and daughter had been "messing around together in the kitchen, in a normal playful way" when Vickers realised Scarlett had been injured.
He continued: "Her body must have come into contact with a sharp knife and she quickly died as a result of a single knife wound. "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.".
Scarlett's mother Sarah Hall was also present in the kitchen and tried to save the teenager as she bled to death on the floor after suffering an 11cm wound to her chest. Ms Hall called 999 and said Vickers and Scarlett had been "messing about" and that her partner had thrown something at their daughter.
