The darlington father who murdered his teenage daughter

SIMON VICKERS WAS FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING HIS 14-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, SCARLETT, IN THE KITCHEN OF THEIR FAMILY HOME IN GENEVA ROAD, DARLINGTON 01:00, 02 Feb 2025 It was a case that shocked

the North East and the tight-knit community where it happened. Now a jury has found Simon Vickers guilty of murdering his 14-year-old daughter, Scarlett, in the kitchen of their family home

in Geneva Road, Darlington. The schoolgirl died after sustaining a single stab wound through her heart on July 5 last year. The case was tragic, and exactly how the murder came about remains

something of a mystery. During the trial at Teesside Crown Court, jurors heard there was no evidence of a motive, and the family seemed close, with no issues that were apparent. But during

a play-fight in the kitchen of the family home, jurors found that the 50-year-old Vickers did stab his daughter through the heart with a kitchen knife, murdering her. He will be sentenced at

the same court on Monday, February 10. Here's the full story: WHO WAS SCARLETT VICKERS? Scarlett was 14 years old when she died, and was a year nine pupil at Haughton Academy. She was

said to be a "typical teenager" who loved hanging out with friends. Article continues below Following her death, the school paid tribute to her, showing how much of a popular pupil

she was. The school described her as a lovely girl, and an important member of the community. The statement read: "She was always immaculately turned out, respectful and polite. A very

friendly girl, with a great sense of humour, she was popular with her friends and will be greatly missed by everyone at school. "Staff and pupils at Haughton Academy and the Education

Village Academy Trust are extremely saddened by the news and we would like to pass on our thoughts to everyone affected by this tragedy. The trust is working hard to support pupils and staff

through this very difficult time. This is a very difficult time for us all but we know we can get through it by coming together as a strong community and by remembering Scarlett in our own

ways." Haughton Academy said it had set aside a memorial space in the Village Green, within the school site, where families could leave flowers. WHO IS SIMON VICKERS? Simon Vickers

worked at manufacturing firm 3M Aycliffe and was, and still is, in a long-term relationship with Scarlett's mother, Sarah Hall. On the day of Scarlett's death, Simon and Sarah had

watched a European Championship football game, and he had drunk four glasses of wine and smoked a cannabis joint. He went on to tell police he would drink red wine “quite often” and had

shared two bottles of wine with Sarah. He said that on a scale of one to 10 of drunkenness he was around a three or a four at the time. He said he smoked cannabis around three or four times

a week and would normally have a cup of tea while smoking a joint. CCTV footage shows Darlington murderer give account to police WERE THE FAMILY CLOSE? Vickers described himself, Sarah and

Scarlett as inseparable, and that they called themselves the three S's. Six days before Scarlett's death, the family had booked a trip to Gran Canaria and were due to go during the

summer holidays once she had broken up from school. During the trial, Sarah Hall gave evidence, and gave an insight into the family dynamic. She told the jury: “We had a very, very happy

family life, we sort of lived in our own little bubble...Scarlett was becoming more independent...when she was in the house we did everything together. We played fun games, [played] on the

Xbox, and generally had a good family life. We were all very happy, she was happy, I was happy, Simon was happy.” When asked about the relationship between Scarlett and Vickers. She replied:

"Simon treated Scarlett very well, he was a 'hands-on' dad and loved her very much.” She added: “It was an accident, I know he would never harm her…she always came first for

the both of us.” THE MURDER On the night of her death, Scarlett had been spending time in her bedroom playing games while Sarah cooked a spaghetti bolognese. Later, Scarlett came down from

her bedroom, saying she was bored. Scarlett, who had already eaten, said she was still hungry and started eating grapes. Soon after, Scarlett, Simon and Sarah began throwing the grapes at

each other. Vickers said: "We were throwing the grapes around and there were quite a lot of grapes on the floor and I wanted to bring the dog in, so I said we needed to pick them up.

Sarah picked them up, Scarlett threw a few more. That's when I started to tickle her." The trial heard that Sarah had nipped Simon "on the butt" with some tongs. He said:

"ow" and Scarlett said to him: "Dad, you're a wimp". Vickers continued: "She's called me a lot worse than that in moments. We were just playing around,

mucking about." He told the court: "She (Scarlett) is very proud of her hair, she had nice long hair. I started wafting it about and she started pushing me when I tried to get it.

She pushed me to where the tongs were. When she pushed me, she pushed me in the direction of where the tongs were. I had my hand on top of the tongs, I was facing the boiler and I swiped

along. They hit the corner of this hot plate and that's why they flew off." Mr Vickers says he did not see a knife on the work top, that he had "not touched a knife all

day", and that the tongs were the only utensil he had touched. He then heard Scarlett shout "ow, ow." Vickers continued: "I looked up straight at her and said,

'what's the matter?' She was just staring. He said: "She had a pink fluffy pyjama top on and then lots of blood started coming out of it. I got off my chair, Sarah was

helping her now, she'd grabbed a towel." Mr Vickers says that there was "lots and lots" of blood so he grabbed his phone and called 999. He said: "She was lying

there and she started gasping for breath and that's when I started shouting 'Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett, Scarlett', then she stopped breathing, just nothing. "Her eyes

were like a doll's eyes, everything just stopped. I put my fingers on her nose and started blowing in her mouth. I started hammering her chest, I got no response whatsoever, nothing. I

don't know how long I was doing it for. I heard Sarah say 'move' so I moved and she took over." Mr Vickers said that once Sarah took over CPR, she continued until

paramedics arrived. While one gave CPR, the other started to cut her out of her clothes He said: "Sarah said she thought a knife had been thrown. The same time all this is going on, the

one that was doing CPR kept saying he couldn't control the blood." Vickers later told officers he hadn't been throwing knives around. He said: "I wouldn't throw

knives around with anybody, let alone my child." WHAT DID SARAH HALL SAY? During Sarah Hall's evidence, she told the jury she had been in a relationship with Vickers for 27 years

and did not believe he would ever harm or murder their daughter. She told the jury that the mood in the kitchen was “fun, exciting, happy” and that the atmosphere was not malicious at all.

Ms Hall said that she had been using a knife while cooking spaghetti bolognese as Vickers and their daughter messed about together and that there was "no hint of conflict" between

them. She said she was cooking at the time the stabbing occurred and did not see it. In tears, she told the court Scarlett said “Ow” . She said: “I turned round and she just looked at me, I

asked ‘what’s up’ then I saw the blood coming out of her side. I panicked, the last thing she must have seen was the look of panic on our faces, I just thought ‘that’s not right, that’s not

right’ and I went to get a tea-towel to block the blood." Defence barrister, Nicholas Lumley KC asked if Vickers ever said, “I’m going to kill you, or anything like that?” Ms Hall

replied: “No”. She added that it didn’t ever cross her mind that Vickers would do anything to hurt Scarlett. She said: “I don’t know how it happened, but I know he would never harm her.” THE

PATHOLOGIST The trial heard evidence from Dr Jennifer Bolton, a forensic pathologist, who carried out the post-mortem of Scarlett. She described the injury to Scarlett as an “incise wound”,

which is generally caused by something “sharp, most commonly a knife, but occasionally something else with a sharp edge”. The jury heard the knife penetrated between the ribs on her left

side, through the lung and her heart. Dr Bolton said: “The stab wound [went] into the front of the heart and ends in the middle of the heart. It ends in the chamber of the left ventricle.

This is the thickest part of your heart responsible for pumping blood all the way round the body.” The doctor said because the stab wound went through Scarlett's chest, lung and heart,

it caused blood to go into the cavity where the lung is. She said: "This blood loss is the reason Scarlett died." Dr Bolton said death would not have been immediate, and that it is

common for someone to be able to speak, or even walk a few steps after sustaining such an injury. The jury heard Scarlett would have become unconscious before death but would not have

collapsed immediately. GUILTY OF MURDER After days of deliberation, the jury found Vickers guilty of murder. He will be sentenced on Monday, February 10. WHAT DID POLICE SAY? Following the

guilty verdict, Durham Constabulary Detective Superintendent Craig Rudd, spoke outside of the court. He told media outside that we may never know what caused Vickers to murder Scarlett. Det

Supt Rudd said: "Scarlett 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 - the man who

was meant to protect her. We may never know why or what caused Simon Vickers to do what he did that night and sadly, today's verdict will not bring Scarlett back. "But he will now

face the consequences of his actions. I would like to thank my investigation team for their tireless efforts for getting justice for Scarlett and the community for their co-operation and

understanding while we carried out our inquiries. Our thoughts remain with those who cared about Scarlett." Article continues below JOIN OUR COURT & CRIME WHATSAPP COMMUNITY Join

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