Scarlett Vickers: Darlington dad told police ‘I want to die’

Scarlett Vickers died after she suffered a single stab wound to the chest which pierced her lung and heart resulting in fatal blood loss.

The 14-year-old’s father, Simon, was arrested at their Darlington home while paramedics were fighting to save her life.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 50-year-old had been watching football and drinking with his family before Scarlett suffered the fatal stab wound to her chest while they were cooking food in the kitchen.

Scarlett Vickers (Image: Durham Constabulary)

Pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton explaining the cause of death, said: “It isn’t immediate, it is normal for someone to be able to speak afterwards or walk after being stabbed – it can be a small number of minutes but she would have been unconscious before death.

“She would not necessarily have collapsed immediately.”

Jurors had heard how Vickers told officers that the pair had been playfighting in the kitchen and he accidentally threw the knife at his daughter he thought he was throwing a spatula.

Dr Bolton ruled out the potential explanation in her evidence.

The kitchen knife recovered from the Darlington home of Scarlett Vickers (Image: Durham Constabulary)

She said: “What we are looking at here is a kitchen knife which is not designed to be thrown – it is practically impossible for a kitchen knife to be thrown and travel in such a way that it lands on her clothing and travels at 90 degrees so it doesn’t bounce off and continue 11cm into her body.

“I would say the knife would have to have been held and held tightly so that when it came into contact with Scarlett it didn’t go backwards and went into Scarlett – that would require a tight grip.”

The 999 call was played to the jury where Vickers can be heard becoming increasingly distressed in the background before telling the operator that ‘she has turned blue’ and is not breathing.

Paramedic Andrew Crow described Vickers as being ‘calm and collected’ while he was fighting to save the life of the defendant’s daughter.

His colleague, Anthony Brierley, told jurors that what he witnessed when he entered the house on Geneva Road was ‘horrific’.

He said: “The events of that day will live with me for the rest of my life.”

Tributes to Scarlett Vickers at Haughton Academy (Image: IAN LAMMING)

Footage from police body-worn cameras recorded the defendant saying ‘We were kinda intoxicated, we have been drinking wine having a nice day watching football, we were making tea mucking about – what the f***’.

Vickers can also be heard saying ‘It was an accident. I want to die’.

CCTV from inside Darlington police station was also shown to the jury after it captured the defendant’s reaction when he was told his only child had died.

Again, he was recorded saying ‘I just want to die’.

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On Tuesday, Nicholas Lumley KC, representing Vickers, told the jury that his client had ‘no wish to harm her in any way at all’.

“Simon Vickers will carry the moral responsibility for her death for the rest of his life”, he added.

Vickers, of Geneva Road, Darlington, denies murdering his daughter on July 5 last year.

The trial continues.

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