Woman who survived one of ‘most unusual murder plots ever’ explains why she tried to sabotage court case

On April 4, 2015, army sergeant Emile Cilliers took his wife Victoria’s parachute rig into the toilets at Netheravon Airfield and sabotaged it. The next day, he expected her to die in what he planned to frame as a tragic accident when she jumped from a plane.

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However, Victoria survived her 4,000-foot plummet, crashing to the ground at about 60 mph. She suffered a broken spine, fractured ribs, and a shattered pelvis, but her small frame and the soft, freshly ploughed field she landed in may have saved her life.

This wasn’t even the first time Emile had tried to murder his wife that week; he had also attempted to cause a gas leak at their family home. When the British Parachute Association investigated her fall, they found that both her main parachute and reserve chute had been sabotaged.

Despite the investigation pointing to Emile, Victoria, a victim of coercive control, tried to help cover up her husband’s crime. Her near-death experience and the subsequent investigation are the focus of the new Channel 4 series “The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot,” airing this week.

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This isn’t the first documentary about this unusual murder plot. Over three episodes, the show will recount the murder attempt, feature interviews with those involved, and include dramatic reconstructions with MyAnna Buring playing Victoria. The docudrama also includes Victoria’s court account explaining why she tried to cover up the crime: “I didn’t know truth or reality from what was false. I felt like a prisoner in my own home and in my own head. I said: ‘I want you to drop the case so we can move on with our lives.’ I wanted my husband back.”

Emile Cilliers was jailed for life in 2018. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

In the original court case, the jury failed to reach a verdict. Victoria expressed disbelief that her husband, who claimed to love her, could try to take her life and deprive their children of their mother. In a subsequent trial, Emile Cilliers was jailed for life, with a minimum of 18 years to be served. The judge, Mr. Justice Sweeney, described Cilliers as “of quite exceptional callousness” and someone who would “stop at nothing to gratify your own desires.”

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The evidence against Cilliers was described as “overwhelming.” Jurors learned that he was deeply in debt and believed he would receive £120,000 in life insurance if his wife died. Cilliers also admitted to police that he was having an affair with an Australian skydiving instructor he met on Tinder, while Victoria revealed in court that she suspected his infidelity and was planning to leave him.