'Her life was cruelly cut short by her own father - a man who was meant to protect her'

It's a father's job to protect his daughter. But after a day of drinking wine, smoking cannabis and watching football, Simon Vickers murdered his 14-year-old daughter Scarlett by stabbing her through the heart.

Her life was abruptly ended when a supposed 'play fight' resulted in a kitchen knife being embedded 11cm into her chest. Scarlett, who would be celebrating her 16th birthday later this year, tragically died at the scene on Geneva Road in Darlington last July.

Now Vickers, who insisted it had been a 'freak accident', has been convicted of murder following a trial at Teesside Crown Court. He had claimed he swiped what he thought were tongs along a work surface, into her chest, and never realised it was a knife, the court was told.

Scarlett’s mother, Sarah Hall, was in the room at the time of the stabbing and told the court that Vickers loved their only child and would never harm her. She has continued to stand by her partner of 27 years.

After the incident, Ms Hall phoned 999 - telling the operator they had been “messing about”, that her partner had thrown something at their daughter and "he didn’t realise”.

On the night, Vickers told paramedic Andrew Crow that his daughter had lunged towards him during a bout of play-fighting, the court heard. But the jury was told that Vickers had given different accounts of what happened in the seconds before Scarlett's murder.

Mark McKone KC, prosecuting, had earlier told jurors that Scarlett’s death was not an accident. Mr McKone told the court: “Mr Crow [paramedic] said that initially the defendant and Scarlett’s mum said they were unsure how the injury occurred and then Scarlett’s mum said that Scarlett and her dad were play-fighting and ‘chucking’ knives at each other.

“Mr