Father Stabs 14-Year-Old-Daughter in the Heart, Claims Accident | Simon Vickers

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Now part of the Darkcast Network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts with a Dark side. What started out as a playful encounter between a father and a daughter turned into a freak accident. This case will have you questioning if evidence always tells the truth or could it be misinterpreted? Welcome everyone. Welcome LaMs To Love and Heartbreak to Homicide. I am your host, Ky and if you’re new here, go ahead, take a seat, take a listen all the way to the end and if you like it, don’t forget to subscribe. If you’re returning LaM Patreon. Thank you so much for your continued support. You don’t understand how much you keep me going. If you didn’t know, you can also subscribe on our Patreon patreon.com forward/loveandmurder so you don’t miss any true crime cases. If you’re not ready to become a sponsor of Love and Murder on the patreon starting at $3 a month, then you could actually sign up for free and still get some benefits. Patreon.com loveandmurder Also, before we begin, I do want to thank our sponsors of Love and Murder who are our LaM Patreon Patreons. Thank you so much for sponsoring this podcast.

Simon Vickers accused of stabbing his daughter Scarlet Vickers with kitchen knife

Now let’s get into this case of the murder of Simone Vickers. On July 5, 2023, just after 11:00pm, emergency services were called to a home on Geneva Road in Darlington, County Durham in Northeast Indian England. When they arrived, they found 14 year old Scarlet Vickers on the kitchen floor with a single stab wound to her chest. Despite the efforts of paramedic, Scarlett was pronounced dead at the scene after bleeding out from the four inch deep wound. Her father, 50 year old Simon Vickers, initially told police that uh, he and Scarlett had been quote, mucking about when the fatal injury occurred. He claimed the knife accidentally pierced her chest after he swiped at a pair of kitchen tongs During a playful moment. He described the events leading up to the stabbing, saying that he had drunk four glasses of wine and smoked some marijuana before this happened. By his account, the family had been preparing a spaghetti meal together and playfully throwing grapes at each other. He claimed that he figured what happened was that he was trying to grab a pair of tongs and that Scarlett had been nipping at him with and instead he grabbed a knife without even realizing it. Then somehow Scarlett might have accidentally landed on the kitchen knife after it hit the side of a hot plate and stuck out over the side of the counter. We were just mucking about in the kitchen. I can’t believe this happened. I hadn’t done anything unlawful. I had thrown a pair of tongs. As far as I was aware, we were mucking about. Harmless fun. There was no knife in any equation whatsoever. During his police interview, he repeatedly expressed disbelief, saying, quote, we were horse playing. I must be the unluckiest man in the world. He also noted that the family had been planning a holiday to Gran Canaria in six weeks and insisted that he would never intentionally harm his daughter, who he described as, quote, our life, our whole purpose. However, forensic evidence said something different. Home office pathologist Dr. Jennifer Bolton conducted Scarlet’s post mortem examination and concluded that the 11 centimeter deep wound could not have been caused accidentally. Dr. Bolton explained that the kitchen knife had breached Scarlet’s chest wall, passed through her lung and pierced her heart. The angle and depth of the wound indicated that the knife was held tightly in a firm grip. Quote, it’s practically impossible for a kitchen knife to be thrown in such a way that it lands on Scarlet’s clothing and, and her skin at a 90 degree angle, penetrating as deeply as it did. Forensic scientist Gemma Escott further supported this analysis, stating that evidence on the knife suggested a deliberate stab in motion. Simon was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The trial started in 2024 with the prosecution led by Mark McCone, KC arguing that Simon’s account was inconsistent with the forensic evidence. Quote, the knife must have been held firmly in the defendant’s hand at the time of the stabbing. He dismissed Simon’s claim of an accidental stabbing, emphasizing the depth and trajectory of the wound. Scarlet’s mother, Sarah hall, who had been in the kitchen during the incident, supported Simon’s claim that the stabbing was an accident. She described the family as inseparable and testified that she had never had any concerns about about Simon harming their daughter. Scarlet was my little girl, my best friend. I know Simon would never harm her. Simon cried throughout the trial and maintained his innocence when he was questioned. He sobbed hard and told a jury that he would never hurt his child. No, never, never in this world. I would have given my life for her. Sarah started nipping me on the back with a pair of tongs on the butt. I turned around and tried to grab the tongs off of her. As I tried to grab them, I caught my little finger on them. I did shout out. Scarlet said, dad, you’re a wimp. I said, how would you like that? Just mucking about. As I went to sit on the seat, I heard Scarlet shout, ow. Ow. There was a delay of a couple of seconds. I looked up straight at her and I said, what’s the matter? She was just staring. She had a pink fluffy pajama top on. And all of a sudden, look, lots of blood started coming out. I, uh, got off my chair. Sarah had grabbed a towel. I was like, what the f. He went on to describe Scarlet as, quote, a fantastic daughter. Quote, I spoiled her, as my mom would say. She had me wrapped around her little finger. Despite the defense, the jury was unconvinced. After deliberating for over 13 hours, they found Simon guilty of murder. On February 10, 2024, Simon was sentenced to life in prison. The judge described Scarlet’s death as a tragedy caused by her father, a man who was supposed to be protecting her. Detective Superintendent Craig Rudd, who led the investigation, stated, Scarlet Vickers would have celebrated her 16th birthday this year. She had her whole life ahead of her. Yet it was cruelly cut short by her own father, a man who was meant to protect her. We may never know why or what caused Simon Vickers to do what he did that night. Sadly, today’s verdict will not bring Scarlet back, but he will now face the consequences of his actions. I would like to thank my investigation team for their tireless efforts in getting justice for Scarlet and the community for their cooperation and understanding. While we carried out our inquiries, our thoughts remain with those who cared about Scarlet. Anna Baker, senior Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Northeast, emphasized the importance of forensic evidence in the case. Quote, the account provided by Simon Vickers about how Scarlet sustained a fatal injury is wholly inconsistent with the forensic evidence. Our thoughts remain with Scarlet’s family during this incredibly difficult time. After the trial, some neighbor said, quote, it’s incredibly sad. And most of us who live nearby are struggling to come to terms with this tragedy. Another added, she was a bright, lovely girl with her whole life ahead of her. Now, my question for you is, do you think this was an accident, as Simon maintains, or do you think that it was done on purpose, as the investigators concluded? Now, to me, I don’t see any motive for him wanting to kill his daughter. Um, in this case, I’m kind of on defense. I don’t know if he’s guilty. I really don’t. There was no evidence of a motive. Nobody ever said anything mean about him. Nobody said there has been any evidence of him harming Scarlett or there being any problems in the house. All his neighbors were shocked. And then, I mean, huh, Anybody who’s guilty could still cry and act like they’re not guilty, but he cried throughout this whole thing. He was sobbing. He maintained his innocence. And again, guilty people could do the same thing. But to me, other than the forensic evidence that came back stating that, which they concluded couldn’t have been an accident. But that’s, to me, that’s you taking the evidence, the forensic evidence and making a conclusion, which I guess, which I guess this is how most people are caught. But to me it just. Okay, let me get my thoughts together.

Simon Vickers’ account of how Scarlet died is inconsistent with forensic evidence

So number one, let me, Let me go over some notes that I took and yes, I’m getting my paper. So number one, remember that case, uh, about. I think it was on Australia. And I watched a documentary on this years and years ago. It was about the dingo ate my baby. And nobody believed her. And they were like, yeah, right, the dingo dingles don’t come up and eat babies and this and this. And it turned out years and years, years. And they were also like, oh, you didn’t even cry when she disappeared. You were acting all weird and remember that? And it turned out years later that in fact she didn’t kill her child. And just because she cried didn’t mean she wasn’t grieving, just people grieving different ways. But for a, ah, long time they believe she killed her. Her, her, her daughter, between her and her husband, that they killed their, the daughter. But, but it turned out that that’s not what happened. The evidence pointed to that’s what happened, but that’s not what happened. Then another thing that I have is Gemma Escott said the evidence on the knife suggested a deliberate stab in motion. What evidence on anything could suggest that? Like, what would you. You would literally have to have a note on the night saying, this is me doing a step. Like, I don’t understand what evidence could be on the knife to suggest a deliberate stabbing motion other than a note. A, uh, camera that was on the knife, an audio recording device. Like, I don’t understand what evidence on the knife suggests a deliberate stab in motion. Because even if you’re just talking about the blood pattern on the knife, the way a person could have fallen on a knife could be the same as somebody stabbed, stabbing at a certain angle. So to me, that’s not really evidence. And then Anna Baker said that the account provided by Simon Vickers about how about how Scarlet sustained a fatal injury is wholly inconsistent with the forensic evidence. And again, it could be what really happened. Like he’s, he’s giving you ideas of what he thinks could have happened, which is why it’s off with the forensic evidence, because he literally probably doesn’t know. He just probably turned around and saw blood spurting out of his daughter’s chest, and he’s just like, what the. Like, what happened? And he’s just trying to come up with scenarios of what could possibly have happened. So, of course, based on that, and, you know, he’s not a cop, he can’t think of scenarios that would match the forensic evidence. Plus, that’s not. Probably not what’s on his mind. His daughter is dead, and he probably feels that it’s his fault. So he’s just trying to come up with, maybe this happened, maybe this happened. This is what he’s literally saying, maybe this happened, maybe this happened. So of course it’s not going to match the forensic evidence, but it could have literally been an accident. She could have literally fallen on the knife or whatever, and this was the end result, which would have matched the forensic evidence of stabbing, for instance. It could have totally been an accident. Like both the mother and the father is saying, this is an accident. The mother was there in the kitchen. She watched it happen. Well, not that she watched it happen, but she was there, you know, and she’s saying that this man would never hurt his daughter. I don’t know. Maybe I’m being naive. I think he. He’s innocent. I’m going to say that unless some other evidence comes out and says, you know, oh, no, he definitely did this. Now, if you heard something else or you saw something else, totally put me in my place. I’m not above that. And please do it respectfully, because if you come at me like an asshole, I’m going to ignore you. But from what I’m gathering, I have a feeling this was a complete accident. And this guy is in prison because forensic evidence does show that, okay? Based on how deep it was in her chest, there’s no other possibility of what could have happened. So maybe I’m naive. Correct me if I’m wrong. Please leave your comments below. What do you think? Do you think she. Do you think he’s innocent? Do you think he’s guilty? Did you hear something other than what I heard? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I know this is short and normally I would read your comments, but I ended up having to record this whole thing twice because my mic was messing up. So I’m going to cut this short because I’m recording this twice. But that is all I have for you today. I totally want to hear your theories. I want to hear if you think I’m being naive and you think that he is guilty, or if you have evidence that I didn’t catch that he is guilty, or if you think that he is innocent and let me know why you think he’s innocent, and I’ll. And I’ll read your comments in a future episode. And as we end each Monday episode, I want to remind you that it’s. Say it with me now. All, uh, love and no murder, y’ all. See you in the next case. Bye.