My husband murdered our daughter in front of me – but I can never blame him

The mother of a schoolgirl stabbed to death by her father during a “kitchen playfight” has pleaded for his release from prison, saying: “All we want is to be able to grieve for our daughter together.” Simon Vickers, 50, is a month into a life sentence for the murder of 14-year-old Scarlett Vickers,  who died from a knife wound to the heart he inflicted. Vickers’ partner of 27 years, Sarah Hall, refuses to condemn him and has launched a campaign to have his murder sentence overturned, saying: “How can I blame him for an accident when I know he’s in as much pain as I am?”

Ms Hall, who was cooking spaghetti bolognese, when tragedy struck believes the evidence of a pathologist who said Vickers must have had “a firm grip” on the knife when it entered Scarlett’s chest was flawed and is looking for a way to appeal against his conviction and for him to be freed. She said: “We want to remember Scarlett and grieve together, and go to the places we went with her and remember her. “I don’t think we’ve ever come out of shock, it’s just been a never-ending nightmare.”

The Solicitor General has however referred the case to the Court of Appeal in an attempt to have the 15 year minimum term imposed on Vickers increased because it was “unduly lenient.”

Ms Hall, 44, has found the courage to go back to the family’s home in Darlington, County Durham, for the first time since Scarlett died on July 5th last year on what the family of three called “happy Fridays.”

They were in the small kitchen of their semi “mucking around” when Scarlett was fatally injured.

A judge said Vickers stabbed her in a “momentary but devastating act of anger.”

But Scarlett’s mother blasted the notion as “absurd” and says: “I honestly don’t know how the jury have come to that conclusion.”

She added: “I know he’d never harm Scarlett and I know that it was an accident. How can I blame him for an accident when I know he’s in as much pain as I am?”

“If I thought he’d done it deliberately then no, I wouldn’t have been here (protesting his innocence.)

“I would have protected her with my life, as would he.”

Ms Hall is angry character witnesses were not read out during Vickers trial, claiming: “The family photographs and character references weren’t read out.

“He had character references from all members of his family, including two of his work colleagues as well, saying how much he loved her and that he would never hurt her.

“I honestly don’t know how the jury came to that conclusion. When they announced the guilty verdict I thought I’d misheard, I was shocked. I couldn’t grasp it.”

Asked why Vickers didn’t plead guilty to manslaughter, a lesser charge that would have carried a shorter sentence, she said: “He needed to stand up in court and tell them that he would never, ever harm her.”

The murder trial hinged on a few seconds in the family’s kitchen.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Vickers and Ms Hall had been drinking and that he had also smoked cannabis.

At 10pm as Ms Hall cooked Scarlett came down from her room, where she had spent the majority of the night, and horseplay between the three of them then began, with Scarlett and her

mum trying to throw grapes into each other’s mouths.

Vickers joined in the playfighting and protested when Ms Hall pinched his bottom with the kitchen tongs. He spun round and the tongs caught his finger which caused him to say: “Ow.”

Laughingly, Scarlett called her dad “a wimp” and he responded: “How

would you like it?”

At this point Ms Hall turned back to tend her bolognese missing what prosecuors successfully argued was Vickers picking up a kitchen knife and thrusting it into his daughter’s chest with such force it pierced her heart.

The mother said after realising her daughter had been injured she grabbed a tea towel to stop the bleeding until Vickers took hold of the towel and told her to phone an ambulance.

She said: “It felt like forever for the ambulance to come, but it must have only been five minutes”.

The couple  gave Scarlett CPR before the ambulance arrived, and when it got there she thought “she’s going to be alright.”

But instead of heading to hospital police arrived and arrested them both for attempted murder and whisked them to separate police stations – where they were given the devastating news Scarlett had died.

Both Ms Hall and Vickers were charged with murder before the charges against Ms Hall were dropped.

In January Vickers was convicted of murder following a 10-day trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Sentencing him, trial Judge Mr Justice Cotter said: “It was a momentary but devastating act of anger. It stole one young, precious life and ruined your life, your wife’s life and Scarlett’s relatives’

and friends’.

“The clock cannot be turned back, and you must now face the consequences that the law intends.”