Father Accused of Stabbing Daughter, 14, to Death During Kitchen 'Play Fight': Reports

A father accused of stabbing his teenage daughter to death has reportedly insisted they were just play-fighting in the kitchen at the time.

On Tuesday, Jan. 14, Teesside Crown Court in Middlesborough, England. heard that Simon Vickers, 50, denied causing the “tragic death” of his daughter Scarlett Vickers, 14, who was stabbed in the heart on July 5, 2024, according to Sky News.

Scarlett was pronounced dead by paramedic, Andrew Crow, at around 11:50 p.m. local time that evening, The Guardian reported.

Vickers has denied both the murder and manslaughter of Scarlett. Defense attorney Nicholas Lumley told the court that the father and daughter had been “messing around together in the kitchen, in a normal playful way” at the time of her death, according to Sky News.

“Her body must have come into contact with a sharp knife and she quickly died as a result of a single knife wound,” Lumley told the court, the outlet reported.

“He, Simon Vickers, will bear moral responsibility for his daughter’s death for the rest of his life. However, he denies completely that he did anything unlawful or deliberate to cause that tragic death.”

According to the BBC, the court heard that Scarlett suffered a 4-inch wound to her chest and “bled to death” after she “lunged” towards Vickers and the blade “just went in.”

Her parents, Vickers and Sarah Hall, also told police the family had been throwing food and utensils at one another and “mucking about” while making dinner at the time of the incident.

They added that Hall said the tragedy happened after she got out a kitchen knife to cut up some garlic bread and Vickers accidentally grabbed it instead of a spatula, the BBC reported.

“It wasn’t even hard, it was nothing, I don’t understand,” Police heard Vickers say about the stabbing, per The Guardian.

The outlet added that the parents said they didn’t realize Scarlett was hurt “until she yelled.”

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Vickers reportedly told police that on the night of Scarlett’s death, the family had had a “nice” day watching soccer and that they’d been drinking wine, per the BBC. As he was booked into Darlington Police Station, he told officers: “We were just playing in the kitchen. One minute I was cooking, next there’s blood gushing out her chest.”

The court heard that Vickers responded, “I must be,” in his police interview when asked if he was responsible for causing Scarlett’s death, the BBC added. He also claimed Scarlett had started the alleged play-fighting that night by “throwing grapes at him,” the outlet reported.

Prosecutor Mark McKone said Scarlett’s wound was “too deep to have been caused accidentally,” the court heard, per The Guardian, and alleged that it wasn’t caused by a “thrown weapon.”

Lumley, meanwhile, insisted that Vickers “had no wish or desire to harm” his daughter, the outlet stated.

Lumley, McKone and Teesside Crown Court didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for information.