Scarlett Vickers’ mum does now not imagine her daughter used to be murdered

In January, Simon Vickers used to be discovered to blame of murdering his 14-year-old daughter Scarlett after a jury rejected his declare he had killed her in a play-fight. His spouse, Scarlett’s mom, is adamant it used to be an coincidence.

It is the query Sarah Corridor will pay attention for the remainder of her existence – how can she most likely give a boost to the person who used to be convicted of murdering her daughter?

“I do know he’d by no means hurt Scarlett,” she insists.

Ms Corridor claims 5 July have been an ordinary Friday evening on the circle of relatives’s Darlington house.

She says the close-knit trio, who dubbed themselves the 3 S’s, referred to as them “satisfied Fridays” because it intended any other week of labor and college used to be over.

Scarlett ate her dinner and spent the night time in her bed room, speaking to pals and enjoying video games on-line.

Her folks drank wine and watched the lads’s Eu Soccer Championships on TV in the lounge.

Vickers additionally smoked some hashish, one thing he incessantly did to ease backache led to by way of his handbook activity in a manufacturing facility, Ms Corridor says.

At about 22:00 BST, {the teenager} joined her folks of their small kitchen the place her mom used to be placing the completing touches to the adults’ tea, spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread.

Ms Corridor turns into very emotional when she describes what came about subsequent.

She and her daughter have been throwing grapes into every different’s mouths, she says, having “only a amusing combat”.

Vickers additionally joined in. As Ms Corridor used to be busy draining off the pasta within the sink, her spouse of 27 years and their daughter have been “mucking about by way of the again door”.

Exactly what came about subsequent remains to be the supply of a lot confusion for her, however she is sure it used to be now not legal.

All the way through the play-fight, Ms Corridor says she by chance nipped Vickers with the kitchen tongs.

He reacted and Scarlett “jokingly” referred to as him a wimp, Ms Corridor says.

Vickers answered “how would you adore it” and swiped the tongs around the worktop in opposition to his daughter, Ms Corridor says.

A kitchen knife have been positioned subsequent to the tongs, in a position to chop the garlic bread, and Ms Corridor believes the utensil stuck the knife and wedged it in opposition to a granite slicing board, leaving the blade sticking out out from the bench.

At that very same second, Scarlett moved in opposition to her dad, in all probability in a bid to grasp the tongs, and ran directly to the blade, Ms Corridor says.

All the way through Vickers’ trial, he additionally claimed the damage used to be inflicted by chance, however a pathologist mentioned it used to be “almost not possible” for it to were led to by way of the rest instead of a knife being held firmly in a hand.

Vickers to begin with mentioned he hurled a knife as a substitute of what he concept used to be a spatula, but additionally informed paramedics and police on the scene Scarlett had “lunged” in opposition to him and the blade “simply went in”.

Sentencing Vickers, pass judgement on Mr Justice Cotter mentioned he had “without a doubt” Scarlett’s father have been retaining the knife.

What Ms Corridor is aware of needless to say is her daughter cried “ow”, then blood began to pour from her facet.

“I simply concept ‘that isn’t proper, there is something significantly fallacious’,” Ms Corridor says.

Ms Corridor grabbed a tea towel to take a look at and stem the bleeding, her daughter collapsing to the ground.

Vickers took over from her and shouted at Ms Corridor to name 999.

It took the ambulance what “felt like ceaselessly” to return, however paramedics have been in truth there inside of mins and instantly began seeking to save Scarlett’s existence.

Their efforts have been in useless.

Scarlett died from a unmarried 4in-deep (11cm) stab wound to her chest.

The blade wanted handiest gentle drive to move between her ribs and into her center, inflicting catastrophic bleeding, a pathologist would later say.

The police arrived and Ms Corridor and Vickers have been arrested for tried homicide and brought to split police stations.

When Ms Corridor used to be given the scoop her daughter had died, she cried: “No, no, please no. My little lady.”

She used to be given a sedative and put right into a mobile the place she recalls waking up intermittently, crying, prior to lapsing again into her medicated sleep.

Scarlett used to be the woman who had all the time made her folks snicker.

She used to be bursting with power, gorgeous, boisterous and sassy, her mom says.

“She used to be a fantastic lady and she or he used to be turning into a fantastic younger lady.”

Each Ms Corridor and Vickers have been to begin with charged with murdering their daughter, however the case in opposition to her used to be briefly dropped and Vickers on my own stood trial at Teesside Crown Courtroom in January.

The most powerful proof in opposition to him used to be from pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton, who concluded the knife will have to were being firmly held in a hand to reason the wounds it did.

After a 10-day trial, right through which Ms Corridor gave proof in give a boost to of Vickers, and about 13 hours of deliberation, jurors discovered him to blame of homicide with a ten to 2 majority.

Vickers can have pleaded to blame to the lesser fee of manslaughter however Ms Corridor says he mentioned he wanted “to get up in courtroom and inform them that he would by no means, ever hurt” Scarlett.

Jailing him for existence with a minimal jail time period of 15 years, Mr Justice Cotter mentioned a “temporary however devastating act of anger” had robbed Scarlett of her existence, including Vickers’ account of it being a “freak coincidence” used to be “unconvincing and wholly improbable”.

Ms Corridor says this is “absurd”, including her spouse “by no means had a flash of anger”.

“I used to be there that evening,” she says. “There have been no arguments. There used to be no mood, no shouting.”

She says she used to be stunned when the decision used to be introduced, including: “I believed I would misheard.

“It is simply been a endless nightmare.”

Responding to social media hypothesis within the aftermath of the trial that Vickers will have to were a controlling and abusive spouse, Ms Corridor mentioned: “No, by no means.

“He used to be figuring out, comforting.

“[Our relationship] used to be very supportive, by no means controlling.”

Ms Corridor says her circle of relatives used to be a cheerful one they usually “did the entirety in combination”.

Vickers and Scarlett had an overly loving dating, Ms Corridor says, including they have been “as daft as every different”.

When challenged about how she will stick with Vickers, Ms Corridor says she remains to be resolutely supporting him.

“How can I blame him for an coincidence after I know he is in as a lot ache as I’m?” she says.

“If I believed he’d achieved it intentionally then no, I do not need been right here [doing this interview].

“I’d have secure her with my existence, as would he.”

At Vickers’ sentencing, the courtroom heard Ms Corridor’s and Vickers’ folks remained “resolute of their trust” he “didn’t intend Scarlett any hurt”.

Ms Corridor desires about her daughter each and every evening, remembering with horror every morning that she’s in point of fact long gone.

“I simply need her again such a lot,” she says. “I am not snoozing neatly, I am not consuming neatly. I am simply present.”

She has handiest been again to their house on Geneva Highway thrice since Scarlett’s dying.

The semi-detached home is now only a “shell” as a result of “they are now not right here”, she says.

“It used to be a cheerful area,” she says. “I see the recollections all over the place.

“Even going again into [Scarlett’s] bed room, she left a blazer there with all her faculty stuff nonetheless in.

“The whole thing used to be simply left the way it used to be.”