Scarlett Vickers - Were we actually meant to believe this was an accident

[theressomanytinafeysicouldbe]

How can anyone believe this was an accident and surely the mother could not have been stood in the kitchen with her back turned and not heard her daughter get stabbed. Surely she should have been tried too?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9zx02rejo

Plenty of mothers sadly will put their abusive partner before their children. We have seen it over and over again with a step-parent abusing and murdering children. In this case it was her dad not a step-parent but with the same horrendous outcome. As a pp said, I think they probably just didn't have enough evidence for the CPS to charge the mother as a co-defendant, but probably when she was first interviewed by police she was very much a suspect and they both corroborated a story, which she then stood by.

There was an earlier version of the story, which he changed, where he said he thought he was picking up a spatula to throw at Scarlett, but his wife must have put a knife down where the spatula was. He then changed this to he was sweeping things off the countertop and the knife flew at Scarlett.

Thank goodness the forensic evidence was clear that their version of events was physically impossible. I hope he is sentenced appropriately.

The footage of him in the police station moaning that he was meant to be going on holiday in a couple of weeks, presumably was filmed not long after he'd stabbed the poor girl to death was also really shocking. No tears or remorse. Just angst about his inconvenience. Tells me everything.

To be honest this doesn’t make sense.

The offender said X happened. The witness (mum) agreed X happened. The police disproved X happened and suggested Y happened. The offender was found guilty of Y.

therefore surely it should follow that the witness was lying, as her version of events was also disproven. Maybe the police needed to await the outcome of the initial prosecution case before considering other offences.

I knew he'd be found guilty, his story was too fantastical to be believed.

Agree, weird they were having dinner at 11pm.

I feel nothing but complete and utter disgust at the mother. She is clearly covering for him. Maybe I ought to feel sorry for her though, I mean, can you even imagine being so desperate for a man that you would lie for him to cover up the fact that he murdered your daughter?

Is it possible that he's covering for her?

I highly doubt it. At the police station he isn't even upset, just moaning coz his holiday has been ruined.

Another violent man, another dead woman. RIP Scarlett.

No, I'm afraid I think the bog standard explanation of him being a violent abusive man is far more likely. As did the court.

Read the news report earlier and just kept thinking 'you think we're all stupid, don't you?' Reminiscent of Ian Huntley and his bizarre story of Holly or Jessica getting a nosebleed and then him not remembering what happened. Men just assume they'll be believed regardless of what crap they come up with. Pathetic. RIP Scarlett, you deserved better from both parents.

Maybe I ought to feel sorry for her though, I mean, can you even imagine being so desperate for a man that you would lie for him to cover up the fact that he murdered your daughter?

@devastatedagain I've thought the same thing about the auntie of Danielle Jones, whose husband was convinced of her murder in the early 2000s and despite his refusal to say where her body is she remains married to him.

https://archive.is/wbfsc

He had six previous convictions, at least one of which is for violence.

Quelle surprise 🙄

He is her biological father

I feel sorry for the legal professionals who are duty bound to present the defence their client gives them. In cases like this it insults everyone's intelligence and to come up with such shite just adds to this man's despicable crime. To moan about his holiday after his daughters death shows he has no human feelings at all.

I was talking about a different case. Not Scarlett, but Bee. He wasn't her bio-dad. Just her mum's long term partner. She told her mum he had been abusing her for a long time and then whilst with him she disappeared. Her body has never been found.

@theressomanytinafeysicouldbe Different case. Bee not Scarlett.

See page 1 of thread.

Bee went missing when she had been with her mother's partner (not her biological dad). She had recently told her mother he had been abusing her over a long period of time. Her body has never been found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Bernadette_Walker

Sorry for double posting there.

Sorry, I did not know you were referring to someone else, i thought it was local for like poor bairn or poor baby

It reminds me of Avril Jones co convicted for the murder of Margaret Fleming.

She was clearly under the spell of her non dead partner Eddie.

But since he's died she's said nothing?? I don't understand.

So many women in thrall to awful violent men.

Also that Stuart Carrol, Tia Sharp's Gran's boyfriend. All these men given access to kids.

This is just the most shocking case in a long time. Who throws tongs at anyone? Does he think we are stupid?

I agree it doesn't make any rational sense for the mum to lie if the dad killed their daughter. I have absolutely no knowledge of the physical evidence in the case and this is sheer speculation but from a psychological point of view I can make sense of the lying if the mum and the dad were arguing and mum was trying to stab dad and teenager got in the way. In that circumstance I could see a guilt-ridden dad deciding to take responsibility and lie fully expecting a prison sentence and the mum going along with it feeling that him taking the prison time and her living with the guilt will see them both appropriately punished.

Bear in mind court reporting is very restricted. They can only tell you what happened in court. Other factors, like whether there is another investigation into the mother, cannot be included for risk of prejudicing that investigation (if indeed there is one).

Strange that only 10 of the 13 jury member found him guilty. Seems an absolute no-brainer. I wonder what those jury members thought happened? The idea you could accidentally stab someone with that much force in the chest (not somewhere soft like the stomach) is incredulous. Does that mean the judge had the final decision?

I might be strange and in a pessimistic mood but I look at that photo of Scarlett and I wonder if she is better off dead with parents like that, what must her life have been like for the last 14 years and how could she have been able to have a happy adult life after a presumably horrible childhood?
Life's so unbearably unfair, she was condemned right from the start.

But surely if you were going to take the fall and say it was you that accidentally stabbed the child you would pretend to be upset at the 'accident'? Not blather on about missing your holiday?

There's various theories doing the rounds about what really happened. I have seen it suggested that he was an abuser and Scarlett was going to expose him, so he stabbed her. One thing I was sure of from the start is that the story about him accidentally throwing the knife at her was complete hogwash. Thankfully the jury saw through that lie. I also wonder why Scarlett's mother supported him the whole time. I reckon she knows exactly what happened but was just covering for him.

Yes. There may also be a social services case review into this case.