A father has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his 14-year-old daughter, Scarlett Vickers, at their home in Darlington. Simon Vickers, 50, stabbed Scarlett through the chest with a kitchen knife during what he claimed was 'play fighting' in the kitchen last July.
The jury at Teesside Crown Court took over 13 hours to convict Vickers of murder by a majority of 10-2, rejecting the lesser charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to a minimum term of 15 years. The court heard that Vickers had given three different accounts of the incident and had been drinking wine and smoking cannabis at the time.
Scarlett's mother, Sarah Hall, who was also in the kitchen, has stood by Vickers, her partner of 27 years, insisting that he loved their daughter and would never hurt her. In a statement, the defence said that those left behind have been 'serving life sentences of their own'.
Sentencing, Mr Justice Cotter said that Scarlett's death was a tragedy that occurred 'within seconds' due to a loss of temper. He noted that Vickers had never given a truthful explanation of what happened. Scarlett was a popular year nine pupil at Haughton Academy, described as 'immaculately turned out, respectful and polite'.
