The father of a 14-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed by him described the incident as a tragic accident during a playful scuffle. Despite his conviction for murder, the girl’s mother continues to support him and refuses to accept his guilt.
Simon Vickers, aged 50, has been found guilty of killing his daughter, Scarlett, in their family residence in Darlington, County Durham. He now faces a potential life sentence for his actions.
He claimed Scarlett died in a ‘freak accident’ during a play-fight in the kitchen, telling police: ‘I must be the unluckiest man in the world’.
The conviction was based on the findings of a forensic pathologist, who determined that the fatal 11cm stab wound inflicted on Scarlett’s chest, which directly struck her heart, could not have been accidental.
Now, MailOnline can reveal that Scarlett’s mother Sarah Hall, his partner of 27 years, remains steadfast in her support, unable to accept that he murdered their daughter.
Sarah, 44, was described as ‘broken’ following the guilty verdict at Teesside Crown Court on Monday.
Pictured looking crestfallen near the family home where Scarlett died last July, she remains convinced of Vickers’ innocence.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, her mother Elaine Hall, 65, said: ‘Scarlett was their only child. They doted on her. If Sarah thought he had done anything to her, she’d have been out of there.
Scarlett Vickers’ mother Sarah Hall (pictured) is standing by her partner of 27 years Simon Vickers because she is convinced that Vickers killed their daughter Scarlett by accident
Elaine Hall (above, left) pictured with her arm around granddaughter Scarlett (above, right) says the murder in which Vickers stabbed Scarlett in a playfight ‘was definitely an accident’
Vickers (above) was found guilty after prosecutors at Teesside Crown Court said the wound must have been inflicted deliberately
Scarlett was stabbed to death by her father in what he called a tragic accident which occurred during ‘a playfight’
‘It’s definitely just been an accident because there’s no way he would have harmed her.’
Elaine said Sarah was struggling to cope with the tragedy and the verdict of the jury.
Elaine added: ‘She’s lost her daughter and now she hasn’t got Simon to lean on.
‘We’ve talked to each other over the phone but at the moment, I think she’s too upset to say anything.’
Emergency services were called to the family’s semi-detached home in Geneva Road shortly before 11pm on July 5 last year.
Scarlett was found bleeding out with a knife wound that had pierced through her pyjama top and into her chest and heart.
Vickers, who had drunk four glasses of wine and smoked half a cannabis joint, told police that the pair had been ‘just mucking around’ while Sarah cooked spaghetti bolognese for their supper, having enjoyed a ‘nice’ evening watching the European Championship football.
While being booked into custody at Darlington police station, Vickers said: ‘We were mucking about, playing in the kitchen, and for some reason this has gone really weird.
‘We were mucking about. I can’t believe this.
CCTV footage from Darlington police station on the night of the murder shows Simon Vickers insisting they had been ‘playing in the kitchen’
Prosecutors allege Vickers stabbed his only child ‘deliberately with the knife’ (pictured) because the 11cm wound was ‘too deep’ to have been caused unintentionallyÂ
‘Please someone tell me. What’s going on? We are going on holiday to f***ing Gran Canaria in six weeks. F***ing hell. I don’t believe this is happening.
‘We were cooking tea. Just mucking about in the kitchen.
‘I don’t understand how this has happened. Honestly.’
Vickers insisted through his trial that he did not deliberately pick up a knife and believed he had ‘swiped’ a pair of kitchen tongs towards Scarlett while engaging in ‘horseplay’.
While accepting he must have caused the fatal wound, he denied both murder and manslaughter.
He told the jury of a ‘theory’ that Scarlett may then have accidentally come onto the knife after it ‘hit the side of the hot-plate and stuck out over the side of the counter’.
He said: ‘The police assume that I have held a knife and stabbed my daughter which is something that just wouldn’t happen.
‘Why would I harm my daughter? If someone held a gun to my head and told me to stab my daughter, I would be shot.’
Tributes and flowers were left outside the Vickers’ home on Geneva Road on July 9 last year, in the wake of Scarlett’s death
 Jurors took 13 hours and 21 minutes to convict Vickers of murder by a majority to audible gasps in the public gallery.
No motive was put forward by the prosecution as to why Vickers murdered Scarlett.
But they said his account did not explain the findings of pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton that an accidental stabbing was ‘practically impossible’.
Vickers will face life imprisonment when he is sentenced on February 10. A judge will have to decide the minimum term he will serve before being eligible for parole.
Scarlett’s grandmother Elaine said the family will look to appeal the conviction.
She said: ‘It’s sad because he doted on that bairn – and she was the same with him. She was a daddy’s girl.
‘I don’t think he’s done it. I think it was an accident.
‘I don’t think he deliberately killed her.
‘He was daft as she was, you know. She used to go running at him as soon as he’d come in from work and jump on him. They’d mess around all the time.
‘Scarlett used to WhatsApp me and show me how they were play-fighting.’
Emergency services were called to the family’s semi-detached home in Geneva Road (pictured) on July 5 to find Scarlett collapsed on the kitchen floor
Sarah was initially also charged with murder but the prosecution was dropped ahead of her partner’s trial, during which she gave evidence on his behalf.
She described Scarlett as ‘my number one, my best friend, my little girl’ and told the court: ‘It was an accident, I know he would never harm her.
‘She always came first for the both of us.’
Sarah said could not remember Vickers picking up a knife and did not realise anything was wrong until she turned to look at her daughter.
She told the jury that she had remained in regular contact with Vickers while on remand at HMP Durham.
Sara said: ‘Most of our phone calls have been talking about Scarlett and how much we miss her, and we can’t believe she has gone.’
The court heard that Scarlett was a ‘miracle baby’ who arrived despite Vickers and Sarah being told they were unlikely to have children.
Elaine said: ‘She was their only child, that’s why they doted on her. He would never have harmed her.’
‘They bought her everything, they took her on holiday everywhere.
‘The pair of them used to give her more or less everything that she wanted because they loved her.’
Scarlett (pictured) was described as ‘immaculately turned out, respectful and polite’ in a tribute paid by Haughton Academy School headteacher, Ms Gill
Friends said that Sarah has been unable to return to her semi-detached home, bought for £78,000 in February 2013, where Scarlett’s bedroom remains untouched.
One family friend described her as ‘broken’ by the murder verdict.
They said: ‘It didn’t enter Sarah’s head that he had done it. You would have to be mad to stand by someone who murdered your daughter.
‘Simon’s head has been in a right mess. He’s broken. They’re both broken.
‘At the end of the day, they’ve got a life sentence now. Both of them.
‘I don’t know how they can ever walk back in that house with all her things there.
‘There’s no happy ending here. He needs to be home grieving with her, because she needs him.’
The prosecution alleged Vickers could not have thrown or swiped a knife into Scarlett’s chest.
Schoolgirl Scarlett died from rapid blood loss after the blade pierced her chest and heart
Mark McKone, KC, said in a closing speech to jurors: ‘This has gone beyond horseplay and Mr Vickers could and should have realised there was a risk in that small kitchen of causing serious injury with a knife.’
Friends of Vickers said he was urged to plead guilty to manslaughter but had refused.
One said: ‘He said he wasn’t guilty and he didn’t want the world to think he was.
‘He thought if he pleaded to manslaughter then everybody would think he is guilty.
‘But now they think that anyway.’
Nicholas Lumley, KC, defending Vickers, claimed Scarlett’s death was a ‘tragic, tragic accident’ and that there had been ‘no hint of disharmony’.
He said: ‘She 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.’
Scarlett’s death sparked an outpouring of sorrow with her headteacher, Su Gill, of Haughton Academy School, describing her as a ‘lovely, respectful and polite girl.’
‘Scarlett was a lovely girl and an important member of the Haughton Academy community,’ Ms Gill said.
‘She was always immaculately turned out, respectful and polite.’
