A schoolgirl shared a haunting final TikTok including an eerily-named song the day before she was killed by her dad.
Scarlett Vickers, 14, was stabbed to death at her home in Darlington, County Durham, by her father Simon Vickers on July 5, 2024, reports Manchester Evening News.
The 50-year-old was convicted of murdering his daughter on Monday, January 27, following a trial at Teeside Crown Court.
Hours before her brutal murder, Scarlett shared a final video on TikTok. The chilling clip included the Lana Del Rey song ‘Born To Die’, including the lyrics: “Choose your last words.” Prosecutors said Scarlett suffered a fatal wound to the heart in her family’s kitchen, reports the Mirror.
She had been playing at home in Darlington last summer when her father – who denied murder and manslaughter charges – claimed he accidentally threw a knife at her daughter.
The court heard that Scarlett was “supported at every turn” by her parents and was “just finding her independence” before her untimely death.
The short clip posted to TikTok shows the teen posing and tousling her hair while she apologises about the mess in her bedroom.
The 15-second-long clip shows Scarlett wearing a black top and a pair of shorts as she stands in front of the mirror and asks people to “ignore the mess” as she walks back and forth. The lyrics “choose your last words” can be heard playing over the black-and-white clip before it ends.
The video was posted to the platform on July 4 – the day before she would die at the hands of her father.
The court were told that on July 5, she and her family – who were affectionately known as the “three S’s”, according to her mum – were all “mucking about” and throwing grapes at each other in the kitchen.
Mr Vickers stated to the trial that his daughter had died in a “freak accident” as he swiped a pair of tongs towards his teenager, which he claimed caught a knife he hadn’t seen.
He claimed he did not know what happened, but it was possible that Scarlett had run into the blade after it became stuck against a hot plate and jutted over the counter.
However, Mark McKone prescuting, argued Vickers – who he said had loved his daughter and was “devastated” by her passing – had lied about what happened that night.
He said: “The prosecution submit that Mr Vickers did not and could not have stabbed his daughter through the heart accidentally”.
Pathologists found that it was “practically impossible” that the implement could have caused the fatal injury if thrown, with prosecutors arguing that he could not have accidentally swiped the knife along the work surface and into her chest.
They insisted instead that it could only have killed the teen if it was being gripped firmly in the dad’s hand.
Mr McKone also reminded the jury that Vickers had been under the influence of cannabis and alcohol on the fateful day.
Alcohol coupled with an incident where his daughter and partner threw grapes at each other in the kitchen, with some ending on the floor where their dog could eat them, could have led him to become irritated, the prosecution said.
The prosecution said even picking up a knife with an intent to “prod” his daughter was unlawful.
Mr McKone said: “This has gone beyond horseplay and Mr Vickers could and should have realised there was a risk in that small kitchen of causing serious injury with a knife.”
Defending, Nicholas Lumley KC, said he would not offer a motive, as there was not one to give, while calling the incident one of the “saddest and most serious cases”.
Mr Lumley told jurors: “Neither parent asks for your pity, your indulgence or even for your forgiveness.
“Both parents are serving life sentences in the sense that their lives are broken, their hearts are broken and this process will not mend them.”
He continued: “You must decide whether the loss of their daughter’s life makes him a murderer. You must decide whether the loss of their daughter’s life makes him guilty of manslaughter. Both require him to have deliberately armed himself and to have attacked his daughter.”
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