Simon Vickers, 50, stabbed daughter to death at their home in Darlington, County Durham, he insisted that his only child Scarlett, 14, died in a ‘freak accident’.
But the prosecution is not buying his claims, as they alleged he ‘deliberately’ stabbed his daughter because the 11cm wound to her chest was ‘too deep’ to have been caused accidentally.Â
Dr Jennifer Bolton, a forensic pathologist, who carried out a post-mortem on Scarlett’s body said the knife must have been ‘held firmly’ to pierce through Scarlett’s pyjamas and chest.
The schoolgirl died from rapid blood loss on June 5 last year after the blade pierced her chest and her heart.Â
A jury at Teesside Crown Court convicted Vickers of murder by a majority. He will face life imprisonment when he is sentenced on February 10.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Vickers’ account of his daughter’s death was ‘wholly inconsistent’ with the evidence, saying the wound could only have been inflicted if the knife used was ‘firmly gripped’.
Emergency services were called to the family’s semi-detached home in Geneva Street shortly before 11pm on July 5 last year.
Scarlett was found by paramedics bleeding to death on the kitchen floor and was unable to be saved.Â
Vickers told police that the pair had been ‘just mucking around’ while his partner of 27 years, Sarah Hall, cooked spaghetti bolognaise.
He said: ‘We were cooking tea, we were mucking about playing around and started throwing objects at each other.’
Vickers, who worked at the 3M manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe, insisted through his trial that he did not deliberately pick up a knife but accepted he must have caused Scarlett’s fatal injury.
Jurors heard how he told police upon his arrest: ‘I must be the unluckiest man in the world’.
Dr Jennifer Bolton, a forensic pathologist, who carried out a post-mortem on Scarlett’s body told the court the possibility of an accidental stabbing was ‘practically impossible’.
