Scarlett Vickers Trial

[hogwartsgraduate]

If the Jury did not know about the violent history they did well to convict Murder imo - they have seen straight through him!

 

[ElectricDreams]

Very surprised it was a guilty verdict for murder, I was sure he'd get manslaughter. Correct result IMO, there's no way a stab wound that deep wasn't intentional. If it was a genuine accident then he would have put forward a more plausible defence.

 

[LouBug19]

He's been sentenced to 15 years minimum. Doesn't seem like much, he will be 75 when he can apply for parole. He needs to admit to what he did.

 

[Millennial Pink]

I'm glad he's been found guilty. What a stupid defence. I'd be mortified trying to defend that bullshit.

I can't even begin to guess at what actually did go on. If you take that stupid story as an outright lie, anything could have happened. It'll be interesting to see if anything re the parents characters come out in the wash. We've had local crimes where one thing is being reported in the media, then the people that know them end up having an entirely different theory based on past behaviour. I suppose it's possible that one of them will change their story at some point, especially with this guilty verdict.

Anyway, poor bairn. To be murdered by a parent at 14 is just heartbreaking.

 

[Esme]

I just watched this and the mum seems so devoid of actual emotion. I’m not a body language expert, the way she shakes her head is like she’s trying to convince herself he didn’t deliberately stab Scarlett. I read the article shared further up thread (the dreaded DM) and a lot of the comments are mentioning DV, abuse, not a normal family situation with the late dinner.

I know we will never know and Scarlett doesn’t have a voice but I think we can all tell the mum is protecting him, perhaps she is terrified of him or he’s brainwashed her into believing what happened didn’t actually happen. A comment mentioned a jokey situation with grapes and Scarlett telling him not to be a wimp shortly before what happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was violent and with the drugs in his system just saw red.

 

[VeniVidiVicki]

Mum didn’t give evidence so nothing under oath

I’m amazed the prosecution didn’t make her take the stand. I’m glad he’s been found guilty. A bit of justice for a girl who couldn’t trust the very people supposed to protect her.

 

[shellie]

That we know of. A woman experiences an average of 35-50 episodes of violence before she reports it.
They may have just lived with the threat of it.

As soon as I heard his wife was defending him, I wondered that myself. It's the only way I can get my head around her mother still defending him and saying he would never harm her, even with all that was found out in court. Jesus, at one point he even tried to deny the knife had been in his hand but she still claims it was an accident, even after the news about his earlier violence came out.

 

[Lynn’ssnazzycardigan]

Probably an unpopular opinion but based solely on the information we have been provided with, I don’t think I could confidently find him guilty of murder or manslaughter

The jury will struggle because murder is a mandatory life sentence, it’s easy for us to say he’s dodgy and lying but in their position, what do you do when you’re not sure exactly what went on? They wouldn’t be able to convict. That’s why I’m thinking about other charges.

 

[Violetroselily]

I wonder if his counsel advised him to plead guilty to manslaughter, given he accepted he was the one that caused the injury in each of his versions of events. Would have been interesting to see if the CPS would have continued the murder charge or accepted a manslaughter plea and dropped it...I reckon the latter. If they did advise that and he ignored it, he's taken a big gamble and lost.

 

[Bobbiewilson]

Probably an unpopular opinion but based solely on the information we have been provided with, I don’t think I could confidently find him guilty of murder or manslaughter

 

[Millennial Pink]

That's the first time I've heard the 'oh Scarlett ran into the knife' excuse. What a load of rubbish, lock her up for perjury.

 

[Islawight]

He looks pretty old for a 50 year old and has the ‘classic red face alcoholic’ look. His words at the police station “I must be the unluckiest man in the world” sealed his guilt for me. That poor girl.

 

[VeniVidiVicki]

I read an article today which said that the mum had nipped him with a pair of tongs and he’d gone ‘ouch’ and Scarlett had called him a wimp. So I can believe that sparked a flash of male fragility rage.

 

[repairshoplover]

I was surprised at the verdict. I’m convinced we will never know the true extent of what happened to Scarlett.

 

[nothinonyou]

The sun have a video up of his police interview it's very obvious he's lying, no emotion either. If you genuinely did that by accident you'd be an emotional wreck

 

[Whatevesmate]

From the evidence and comments made by the judge I don't think that he would have got away with manslaughter. He is clearly lying. They both are. Poor innocent Scarlett

 

[Violetroselily]

No shame whatsoever and absolutely nothing to be gained from voicing this frankly ridiculous take to the media. I sympathise with her life being turned upside down in under a year, but she desperately needs a wake up call.

 

[memeee]

The jury has retired to consider their verdict. I wouldn't like to be one of them.

I think it might be a guilty of manslaughter verdict, a motive was never put forward by the prosecution for murder (unless it was and wasn't allowed to be in the media but I doubt it from reading the updates and summary)

 

[Lynn’ssnazzycardigan]

Didn't think the jury would be out for so long.

I think it will be such a hard decision because he’s obviously hiding something, but what? Luckily there is an alternative charge of manslaughter because I can’t see them finding him guilty of murder. If not, he may end up being charged again with gross negligence manslaughter or causing/allowing death of a child. Even if you believe his BS story, if he hadn’t have been pissed up with a knife in his hand she would still be alive.

 

[Violetroselily]

This is a laughable defence if it wasn't so sad. Why doesn't the mother say what actually happened? What would she have to gain by lying? Unless she wants to protect her partner who murdered their child

If you were being charitable you could believe that the mother might not have actually seen what exactly happened e.g. if she had her back turned. She's not a prosecution witness, but doesn't say if she is a defence witness or not. You'd hope not tbh.

Even if she does believe it was truly an accident, the fact that an adult man was acting so recklessly should be enough to blame him.

He's given two different versions of what happened...I wouldn't believe a word he says