'I GRIEVE FOR MY MARRIAGE'
Victoria Cilliers whose husband tried to kill her by sabotaging parachute ‘struggling to accept’ his sickening act
A WOMAN whose husband tried to kill her by sabotaging her parachute has today revealed she is still struggling to come to terms with his wicked act.
Victoria Cilliers nearly died when both her main parachute and reserve chute failed on a skydive, with her husband Emile Cilliers found guilty of attempted murder.
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Speaking in her first TV interview, Victoria said she was still trying to get her head around what happened three years ago.
The softly-spoken mum told Good Morning Britain: "I'm still pretty stunned.
"It's such a massive thing to accept that he might have wanted to kill me, and harm the children."
The mother said she had gone through "every emotion under the sun" - and was still grieving for her relationship.
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She said: "I love the husband I had - I'm grieving for that marriage."
Cilliers, 38, was convicted of the attempted murder of Victoria during two botched murder plots - one that included sabotaging a gas valve at his marital home.
A week later, the British Army sergeant had sabotaged her parachute but miraculously Victoria survived after hitting the ground at 60mph when her parachute failed on Easter Sunday 2015 over Salisbury Plain.
Cilliers had been having two affairs at the time of the murder plots, and was desperate to cash in on his wife's life insurance.
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'Near miracle' saves wife from dying in parachute fall
A soft patch of newly-ploughed field was the only thing that saved the life of Victoria Cilliers after her near-fatal fall.
On Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, the highly-experienced parachutist made a routine recreational jump at Netheravon Airfield in Wiltshire.
As she jumped from the aircraft, first of all her main parachute malfunctioned.
A rare but not unheard of problem had occurred where her lines were twisted, and she followed her training and cut away the canopy of the main parachute.
But in an unprecedented incident, her reserve 'chute then failed.
Two slinks were missing, meaning that the main lines on one side of the canopy were not connected to her harness, with a brake cable the only thing attached on that side.
This caused the reserve to not inflate properly and led to her spiralling out of control and at high speed to the ground.
Describing the final moments of her rapid descent, Mrs Cilliers, 42, said: "The last thing I remember is trying to get some kind of control over it, trying to open as many cells as I could - then everything went black.
"I do not know if it was the G force or the impact but everything cut out."
Her survival has been described as a "near-miracle" and the only reason she did not suffer fatal injuries was the soft soil of the ploughed field where she landed. Her light weight was also attributed as a factor in helping to minimise her injuries.
But her final piece of luck was that the spot where she landed was just 16ft from a small country lane, which would undoubtedly have caused fatal injuries.
In the interview this morning, Victoria said she hadn't spoken to her husband in three years.
Instead, she said he went to work one day and never came back, having been arrested by cops on attempted murder.
Victoria said she had never had any indication that her husband wanted to kill her, saying: "I never got a hint".
She said during their marriage, he had been a "very loving, affectionate husband".
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Victoria had managed to survive the plunge after landing on a recently ploughed piece of land.
Her survival has been described as a "near-miracle" and the only reason she did not suffer fatal injuries was the soft soil of the ploughed field where she landed.
Her light weight was also attributed as a factor in helping to minimise her injuries.
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