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An ex-Army sergeant has been found guilty of attempting to murder his wife by sabotaging her skydiving parachute in order to claim a life insurance payout.
Emile Cilliers, 38, was found guilty of two attempted murder charges as well as third count of recklessly endangering life by causing a gas leak at the couple’s family home, it has been reported today.
The defendant’s wife, Victoria Cilliers, 41, survived in what was described as a “near-miracle” after both her main and reserve parachutes failed while taking part in a 4,000ft (1,220m) skydive at Netheravon airfield in Wiltshire in April 2015.
The court heard that her husband, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps and an experienced parachute packer, had tampered with equipment that he knew his wife was going to use, with the aim of claiming a life insurance payout and starting a new life with his lover.
Mr Cilliers, who had racked up debts of £22,000, believed he would receive a £120,000 insurance payout in the event of his wife’s accidental death.
As well as having an extramarital affair, he was also sleeping with his ex-wife Carly Cilliers and had been arranging unprotected sex sessions with prostitutes, jurors were told.
Just days before the parachuting incident in 2015, Mr Cilliers had caused a gas leak at the home he shared with his wife and children in Amesbury, Wiltshire, by loosening a gas valve fitting in a kitchen cupboard.
“His selfish motives were simple - he believed that by killing Victoria his financial problems would be solved, his Army career would continue with no danger of Victoria trying to damage it, and he could continue his illicit affair with his girlfriend,” commented Det Insp Paul Franklin of Wiltshire Police.
“On two separate occasions he made serious attempts to murder Victoria - one of these also endangered the lives of his two young children,” Franklin said.
“He has failed to accept any responsibility for his actions which reinforces our view that he is a cold, calculating and callous man whose only duty of care is to himself.”
A date for sentencing has not yet been set.
