Army man Emile Cilliers 'sabotaged wife's parachute in murder attempt'

An Army sergeant tried to murder his wife by removing parts of her parachute because he wanted to leave her for his Tinder lover, a court has heard.

Emile Cilliers, 37, from the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, is accused of two charges of attempted to murder his wife Victoria.

The former Army officer suffered serious injuries after spinning thousands of feet to the ground at Wiltshire's Netheravon Airfield in April 2015.

The 40-year-old's main and reserve parachute both failed.

Cilliers is also charged with damaging a gas valve at the couple's home a few days earlier as part of the second alleged murder attempt.

Prosecutor Michael Bowes told Winchester Crown Court that Cilliers had lied to his Tinder lover Stefanie Goller - telling her that he was going to leave his wife because she had an affair, and he was not the father of one of their children.

The defendant was £22,000 in debt and believed he would get a £120,000 insurance payout when she died, the court heard. He was also in a sexual relationship with his ex-wife, Carly Cilliers.

Mr Bowes described Victoria Cilliers as a "highly experienced parachutist and parachute instructor", adding: "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.

"Their absence inevitably meant the reserve parachute would fail and would send her spinning to the ground."

Mr Bowes described how police went on to investigate the circumstances surrounding a gas leak at the couple's home a few days before.

The prosecutor told jurors that Cilliers had caused it deliberately "just before he left the house to stay elsewhere".

Following the leak, Victoria Cilliers had sent a WhatsApp to her husband, and jokingly said: "Are you trying to kill me?"

Her husband replied: "Seriously, why are you saying that?"

Mr Bowes told the court: "That prescient WhatsApp message turned out to be true."

Within hours of that failed attempt, Mr Bowes added, the defendant suggested to his wife that they go parachuting.

Cilliers, of Aldershot, Hampshire, denies all the charges and the case continues.