Father accused of stabbing daughter 'unluckiest man'

A father on trial for the fatal stabbing of his teenage daughter told police he "must be the unluckiest man in the world", a court heard.

Simon Vickers, 50, claims his 14-year-old child Scarlett died after he accidentally threw a knife at her during a kitchen "play-fight" at their Darlington home and denies both her murder and manslaughter.

On Friday, jurors at Teesside Crown Court heard a video-recorded police interview with Mr Vickers after he was arrested.

In it he told officers he and his daughter had been throwing things at each other, and he believed he had grabbed some tongs and threw them at her. "Obviously I picked a knife up," he added.

"That was it. We were horse-playing.

"I must be the unluckiest man in the world," he told officers.

He said he had not seen the knife at the time.

On Thursday, the court heard Scarlett died after being stabbed through the heart, with prosecutors saying the 4in (11cm)-deep wound was too deep to have been caused accidentally.

Mr Vickers said Scarlett's mother was cooking tea, and he and Scarlett were sitting on either side of a breakfast bar and had started throwing grapes at each other.

He said after he threw what he thought were tongs, she shouted "ah, ah, ah" and fell to the floor.

Mr Vickers described trying to help Scarlett, but said: "Her lips were going bluer and she wasn't listening when I was shouting at her."

Jurors have heard Mr Vickers told a paramedic who arrived at the scene that his daughter had lunged towards him during a bout of play-fighting and that they were "intoxicated", drinking wine after a "nice day" watching football.

Asked in the police interview if he was responsible for his daughter's death, Vickers replied: "I must be."

Describing Scarlett as "the love of my life", Mr Vickers said: "I don't want to be alive, I really don't. I just want to curl up and cry, I can't even cry properly."

Opening the case to jurors earlier in the week, prosecutor Mark McKone KC said the prosecution's case was that this was not an accident.

On Thursday Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton told the trial the knife went through Scarlett's lung and into her heart, causing fatal blood loss.

Dr Bolton said it was her opinion that the knife was being "held tightly" at the time, so that when it came into contact with Scarlett, it went into her.

Defence barrister Nicholas Lumley KC said Scarlett was the much-loved only child of her parents and that Vickers "had no desire to harm her in any way at all".

The trial continues.

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