Man who murdered daughter in play-fight avoids longer jail term

The Guardian

15-05-2025

A father who murdered his 14-year-old daughter by stabbing her in the heart while 'mucking around' in a play-fight will not have his sentence increased, judges have ruled.
Simon Vickers was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years in February after being found guilty of the murder of his daughter, Scarlett, in what the trial judge called a 'momentary but devastating act of anger'.
Vickers, 50, had given different accounts of what happened in the seconds before he stabbed a kitchen knife 11cm into Scarlett's lung and heart at their home in Darlington on 5 July last year.
The solicitor general, one of the government's top law officers, referred his sentence to the court of appeal on the grounds that it was 'unduly lenient'.
However, three judges ruled on Thursday that the 15-year term should not be increased, stating it was 'properly to be described as merciful, but it is none the worse for that'.
Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Mrs Justice Eady, said: 'This was a justifiable and humane resolution of a very difficult sentencing exercise.'
Giving evidence at his trial at Teesside crown court, Vickers denied intentionally or knowingly inflicting the wound that killed his daughter.
The only other person in the house that night was Sarah Hall, Scarlett's mother and Vickers' partner of 27 years. She gave evidence for the defence, saying Vickers would never harm their only child.
A forensic pathologist told a trial that Scarlett's fatal injury, a stab to the heart, could only have been caused by a knife that was held and used with force.
Sentencing Vickers at Teesside, the judge, Mr Justice Cotter, said he was sure the defendant had lied throughout and had killed Scarlett in a moment of anger.
'Scarlett was just 14, a normal, healthy girl with a long life ahead of her when it was cut short by you,' he said. 'It went from an ordinary, happy family Friday night to tragedy within seconds due to what must have been your loss of temper.'
The prosecution did not offer a motive for the murder. Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, said Vickers was lying to the jury and that he may have been 'irritated' by his daughter's behaviour that night.
The court heard Vickers had smoked a cannabis joint and drunk at least four glasses of red wine at the family home on 5 July.
After watching football on TV, he was in the kitchen with Scarlett and Hall when they started 'mucking about'. The horseplay began with throwing grapes, and became tickling and then nipping with kitchen tongs.
Vickers initially told police he must have accidentally thrown the knife at her, thinking he had something else in his hand.
Giving evidence, he said that was not what had happened and that it may have been a freak accident, with him accidentally swiping the knife along a work surface and it somehow going into her chest.
After he was arrested, Vickers told police: 'I must be the unluckiest man alive.'