Skydive wife ‘fell to ground like rag doll’

A SCOTS skydiver whose parachute was allegedly sabotaged by her husband was heard screaming as she ‘spiralled to the ground like a rag doll’, a court heard.

Witnesses said Victoria Cilliers, 40, was ‘violently thrown around’ after her main and reserve parachutes failed to deploy.

It is alleged that her husband, Army sergeant Emile Cilliers, 37, removed vital parts of her parachute in an attempt to murder her to benefit from her £120,000 life insurance.

Cilliers, who denies the allegations, had been having two affairs, one with his ex-wife Carly and another with Stefanie Goller, whom he met through Tinder.

Days before the parachute incident, it is alleged he tampered with a gas valve at their home in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in a failed attempt to trigger an explosion.

Mrs Cilliers, originally of Haddington, East Lothian, only survived the 4,000ft fall at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire, due to a single thread attached to her harness – but suffered multiple injuries.

Yesterday, skydiver James Ranken described how he tried to help her by rapidly descend- ing towards her. He told Winchester Crown Court: ‘I could see her parachute was not opening correctly. Her main parachute was cut away. I just saw that it was completely malfunctioning.

‘The reserve parachute was not open properly and she was spinheaded

‘She was spinning very rapidly’

ning very, very rapidly, pretty much straight to the ground. As Vicky started to spin, I realised she was completely out of control. There was no way she would recover and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

‘I made a rapid descent and towards Vicky as quickly as I could. From the sky I could just see the parachute on the floor. I believe she was underneath.’

Justin Everett, the drop zone controller on the day of the incident on April 5, 2015, said: ‘The main parachute was not functioning the way it should have.

‘I looked and saw the main parachute come away from the jumper. The parachutist was deploying the reserve.

‘The main parachute was cut away and I could see the full deployment of the reserve parachute. It had come out of its deployment bag and was starting to open. I could see the reserve was not working.

‘I knew there was going to be a

serious injury, so tried to get an air ambulance on the scene as quickly as possible.’

Part of Mr Everett’s statement about the incident, which was read out in court, said: ‘The reserve was oscillating and the jumper was being rag-dolled underneath the canopy.’

Brian Gardner, who carried out a visual check of Mrs Cilliers’ parachute before she got on the plane, said: ‘I heard a scream… I saw a parachutist.

‘It took a while for me to realise it was a reserve parachute. I thought it was a main malfunctioning, then when I saw it was not getting cut away I realised it was a reserve.

‘The parachutist began a slow spin and it was getting faster. Vicky started spiralling faster and faster. It got faster and faster. The reserve parachute did not deploy properly.’

The court also heard Cilliers, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, had attended a reserve parachute packing course run by George Panogopoulos at Netheravon in 2012.

He said Cilliers was a good packer and was recommended to take the test to allow him to become qualified at packing reserve parachutes. Mr Panogopoulos, who was chief rigger and responsible for parachutes and equipment at Netheravon, said: ‘Emile knew what he was doing, being a skilled packer he has a good knowledge of parachutes and canopies and the various bits that go with it.’

It is alleged Cilliers removed two of four slinks on his wife’s parachute. These are material used to secure the jumper’s harness to the ropes of the canopy.

‘As part of this course, Emile would have worked on quite a few slinks,’ Mr Panogopoulos said.

South-African born Cilliers, now of Aldershot, Hampshire, denies two counts of attempted murder and criminal damage as to recklessly endanger life.

The case continues.

‘Rag-dollied beneath canopy’