Cilliers Trial: Fateful Jump Was Going To Be Sergeant Wife's Last, Court Hears

The wife of an Army sergeant accused of trying to murder her by tampering with her parachute said she had decided before the fateful jump it would be her last.

Victoria Cilliers said she considered the skydive on Easter Sunday, 5th April 2015, a "test" of her will to continue to be an instructor.

The 42-year-old survived spiralling to earth at high speed after she cut away her main parachute and her reserve chute failed.

Her husband Emile Cilliers is accused of taking the parachute with him to the hangar toilets the day before and allegedly twisting the lines of the main parachute and removing slinks from the reserve.

The jury at Winchester Crown Court heard a third police interview Mrs Cilliers gave in August 2016, in which she said: "It probably was going to be my last jump.

"It was something Emile fully supported."

Explaining to officers her feelings in the lead up to the jump, she said going back to skydiving after becoming a mother was a "mental battle".

She said: "It's hard to give up a massive part of you - it's part of my identity.

"I knew I wanted to jump sooner rather than later.

"Deep down I did not want to do it but I knew I had to in order to be sure I did not want to jump again."

Reporter Charlotte Banks was in court:

Before the jump she said she had been up "most of the night".

She added: "The point where I got on the aircraft, I was in tears for most of the ride.

"When I jumped out I was absolutely terrified, which was hard for me to admit because it was something I had done thousands of times.

"I just did not want to be there anymore."

She also told officers she doubted whether the main parachute had malfunctioned because she had "completely" lost confidence in her ability.

She said: "You have more confidence in your reserve parachute. I'm an instructor, no-one is going to question why I cut it away.

"It was more my mental state. I cannot categorically say the main was a malfunctioning parachute."

She said she agreed with others when they suggested the reason the main parachute failed was as a result of the lines being twisted during packing, because she was "embarrassed".

She added: "I was quite embarrassed to admit I potentially cut away a reasonable parachute, but I just completely lost confidence."

The court heard Mrs Cilliers told officers she requested the further interview because she wanted to paint a "bad picture" of Cilliers in her testimony during the interview shortly after the incident in May 2015.

She said: "I feel angry about the initial interview - I felt like it was the worst possible time.

"Given that I had just been informed that everything I had suspicions of was a reality, as regards my husband, I was just out of hospital, on medication... The red mist came down I was gunning for him in the interview, but I did feel I brought out anything and everything."

Asked by a detective if anything she had said was untrue, she said: "I don't think I lied.

"There are certainly some aspects I don't think he was involved with... It just painted a worse picture, which I think anyone would do in my situation."

In her May interview with police, Mrs Cilliers said that when she found out about her husband's affair she was "angry".

The physiotherapist told officers: "The person I thought I knew does not appear to exist, which is weird."

Asked how she felt, she added: "Empty, alone, angry that all the time over the years I've had my little suspicions and niggles and he has made me feel really bad and blamed my past insecurities.

"My intuition was right, that makes me angry and upset. What I thought was a reasonable relationship and family, he's just torn apart."

Cover picture courtesy of Andrew Matthews/PA Images.