Sergeant ‘tampered with wife’s parachute’
Soldier ‘attempted murder twice’ in order to collect insurance after meeting another woman on Tinder
An Army sergeant twice tried to kill his wife by damaging a gas valve at their home and then tampering with her parachute, after he met another woman on the Tinder dating app, a court has heard. After surviving the gas leak, Victoria Cilliers, 40, jokingly messaged her husband, Emile Cilliers, asking: “Are you trying to kill me?” Days later, she suffered multiple injuries when her main and reserve parachutes both failed to open during a jump over Salisbury Plain.
AN ARMY sergeant twice tried to kill his wife by damaging a gas valve at their home and then tampering with her parachute, after he met another woman on the Tinder dating app, a court has heard.
After surviving the gas leak, Army officer Victoria Cilliers, 40, jokingly messaged her husband, asking: “Are you trying to kill me?”
But just days later, the physiotherapist suffered multiple injuries when her main and reserve parachutes failed to open during a jump over Salisbury Plain.
Emile Cilliers, a sergeant in the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after police discovered vital parts of her parachute missing.
At the opening of his trial at Winchester Crown Court, Michael Bowes QC, said Mr Cilliers had decided to kill his wife after meeting a woman called Stefanie Goller on the dating app Tinder. He told the jury Mr Cilliers had lied to Ms Goller that he was intending to leave his wife, claiming she was having an affair. But in fact Mr Cilliers, who had debts of £22,000, had decided to kill his wife, in the hope of receiving a £120,000 insurance payout, the court was told.
Mr Bowes said: “Victoria, known as Vicky, a highly experienced parachutist and parachute instructor, was involved in a near-fatal parachute fall at the Army Parachute Association Camp at Netheravon, Wiltshire.
“When she jumped out of the plane at 4,000ft, both her main parachute and her reserve parachute failed, causing her to spiral to the ground. Those attending at the scene expected to find her dead. Although she was badly injured, almost miraculously she survived the fall.
“Those at the scene immediately realised that something was seriously wrong with her reserve parachute. Two vital pieces of equipment which fasten the parachute harness were missing.”
Police then began investigating the circumstances of a gas leak at the couple’s home in Amesbury, Wiltshire, which had occurred a few days earlier.
On the night of the leak, Mr Cilliers had left his wife to stay at his Army barracks, claiming he wanted to avoid the Monday morning traffic.
The following morning, Mrs Cilliers
‘Something was seriously wrong with her reserve parachute, two vital pieces of equipment … were missing’
contacted him saying she could smell gas and when experts examined the valve, they found it had been loosened.
Mr Bowes said Mrs Cilliers sent her husband a Whatsapp message saying jokingly “Are you trying to kill me?”, to which he replied “Seriously, why are you saying that?”
Mr Bowes said that Mrs Cilliers was a qualified free fall instructor and experienced parachutist who had completed 2,600 jumps without incident.
As her own parachute was away being inspected, she had hired one which the defendant collected and during the afternoon took it into the men’s lavatories at the base, which is when the prosecution claims he tampered with it.
In the event, the weather was too poor to jump that day, but Mrs Cilliers jumped from 4,000ft (1,200m) the following day.
Mr Cilliers, of Aldershot, Hampshire, denies two charges of attempted murder and one of damaging a gas fitting, reckless to endangerment of life.
The trial continues.