Victoria Cilliers

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Victoria Cilliers is a skydiver who survived a murder attempt on her in 2015 when both her main and reserve parachutes were interfered with.

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Early life and marriage

Victoria lives in Wiltshire, England, and is a physiotherapist for the Ministry of Defence. [1]

Victoria's ex-husband Emile Cilliers was born in South Africa in 1980 and moved to the UK in the early 2000s. He has two children from a previous marriage. He met Victoria in 2009, and they have two children. Their relationship deteriorated before his 2015 attempt on her life. [1]

She became a successful parachutist and instructor, with 2,654 jumps. [2]

Murder attempt

During a parachute jump on Easter Sunday 2015, both her standard and reserve parachutes failed to open. She fell 4,000 ft to the ground. She survived the fall despite life-threatening injuries [1] because she landed on a soft, newly ploughed field. [2] It was the second attempt on her life in less than a week [2]

Emile Cilliers was convicted of her attempted murder in May 2018 [3] [4] after a previous trial failed to reach a verdict. [5] He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years. [1] He was also convicted of tampering with a gas valve at their home. [4]

Media

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Victoria Cilliers: the true story behind the parachute murder plot". PanMacmillan.com. Pan Macmillan. Archived from the original on 2024-04-27. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Kleeman, Jenny (14 Jul 2018). "'He has the traits of a psychopath': the inside story of the parachute murder plot". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  3. "Parachute murder bid: Emile Cilliers jailed for life". BBC News. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  4. 1 2 Osborne, Samuel (24 May 2018). "Army sergeant found guilty of attempting to kill wife by tampering with her parachute". Independent. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  5. Mitchell, Ben (23 Nov 2017). "Retrial ordered for soldier accused of attempting to kill wife with sabotaged parachute". The Independent . Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  6. https://www.channel4.com/press/news/channel-4-commissions-woman-who-fell-earth-wt-story-films

Further reading