‘He’s a different species’: Ex-partner of sex-obsessed army sergeant who tried to murder his new wife by sabotaging her parachute reveals how he put women ‘under a spell’ in documentary
- Emile Cillers twice attempted to kill his wife Victoria Cilliers, now 41
- Sabotaged the sky diver’s parachute on eve of a 4,000ft jump in 2015
- Had previously tampered with gas pipes at their home in Wiltshire
- Wanted to cash in on a £120,000 life insurance policy and move on with his lover
- Former partner Nicolene Shepherd speaks out in ITV documentary
- The daughter they had together, Cilene, also reveals her pain in tonight’s show
- Cilliers was jailed for 36 years at Winchester Crown Court in June this year
The ex-girlfriend of a sex-obsessed former army sergeant jailed for life for twice attempting to murder his wife has told how Emile Cilliers cast a ‘spell’ over women – and described him as a ‘different species of man’.
South African-born father-of-six Cilliers, 38, had sabotaged a parachute belonging to his wife Victoria, 41 – an experienced skydiver – on the eve of a 4,000ft jump in Wiltshire, but miraculously, she survived the fall.
Cilliers, who wanted to cash in on Victoria’s £120,000 life insurance policy and start a new life with his lover, tangled her main canopy and removed vital links from her reserve in a toilet cubicle after he told his wife one of their children needed the loo.
He had previously attempted to gas her when she was at home with their children.
Now Cilliers former long-term girlfriend Nicolene Shepherd, who he met and had a child with in his native South Africa, has spoken out in an ITV documentary about the shocking crime to reveal how manipulative Cilliers managed to cover up countless affairs and manipulative behaviour, by making his partners feel ‘special’.
Nicolene’s daughter with Cilliers, Cilene, also speaks for the first time in tonight’s The Parachute Murder Plot, an expresses her anger towards her jailed father for ‘leaving us all behind in his trail of dust’.
Emile Cilliers (pictured) was sentenced to 36 years in prison after he sensationally sabotaged his wife Victoria’s parachute on a 4,00ft jump at jump at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire in 2015
His former longterm girlfriend Nicolene Shepherd (pictured), who he met and had a child with in his native South Africa, said he was always charming and put his girlfriends ‘under his spell’
When Cilliers – who was jailed for 36 years at Winchester Crown Court in June -arrived in the UK from South Africa in 2011, he left behind Nicolene and their daughter Cilene, telling them he was heading to Britain for work. He was in fact setting up a new life with Victoria.
Nicolene had to learn from Emile’s mother that he’d married another woman, and says she was later unsurprised to learn of what her former partner had done.
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She says: ‘I was under the Emile spell while I was with him. You’re dealing with a different species of man with him.
‘You have somebody that’s that good at lying and charming. Because he’s so good at what he does and making you feel like you are the only person in the world. You’re the most important thing in the world and he promises you the Earth.’
Cilliers’ initial trial collapsed when Victoria became a ‘hostile witness’ and said she’d lied to police to ‘get her own back’.
Victoria (pictured) was left with a broken pelvis and ribs. She’d fractured her spine in four places and suffered a collapsed lung
It late transpired that Emile had sabotaged the parachute, just days after attempting to kill Victoria in a gas leak. Pictured: Victoria on a recent skydive after taking up the hobby after her fall
Nicolene says in the documentary she believes her ex had managed to manipulate Victoria and put her back under his spell.
She says: ‘He always puts in a great amount of effort when he’s in the moment with you. You’re the best thing in the world. You’re the only person in the world. But I think that’s part of his charm.
‘You forgive the bad things because you remember these good things, and the good things are so good that you’ve managed to forgive the bad,’ she says.
Videos later emerged in which Emile was seen singing love songs to the wife he’d tried to murder, which they believe were his attempt to manipulate her into not speaking against him in court.
The former couple’s daughter Cilene (pictured) speaks for the first time about her father, expressing her anger at her father for not apoligising for abandoning her and her mother and leaving them ‘in a trail of dust’
His daughter with Nicolene, Ciline, speaks on camera for the first time in the documentary, to reveal her anger about her father abandoning her.
‘He loved me so much, or at least I thought so, and he was so attentive. I really didn’t understand why someone who I thought like I was their world, I was their favourite person, and just disappeared,’ she says.
‘Probably the most selfish thing he’s done is not being able to at least apologise for the hurt he’s caused and for leaving us all behind in his trail of dust.’
Nicolene said Emile e managed to cover up countless affairs and manipulative behaviour by making his girlfriends feel special. Pictured: The former couple in an old home video
During his marriage Emile (pictured outside Winchester Crown Court) had an affair and visited prostitutes and sex clubs
During the first trial Victoria sensationally said she exaggerated her story and even sabotaged the parachute herself. Pictured: Victoria leaving Winchester Crown Court
Viewers also hear from James Ranken, the man who parachuted with Victoria, also speaking for the first time, who recalls the horror of watching her fall over Netheravon Airfield in Wiltshire three years ago.
He says: ‘She had no control of the parachute whatsoever. She was above me and then she fell straight past me.
‘My first thought was that she was probably dead. She was drifting in and out of consciousness,’ he says.
Emile was in debt and had a life insurance policy on that covered both him and Victoria for up to £120,000 before the accident. Pictured: Victoria on a recent skydive
In the documentary presenter Fiona Bruce attempts to find out what Emile is really like and is even shown the sabotaged parachute by the police (pictured)
Emile was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and reckless endangerment of his two children and sentenced to 36 years in prison. His victim Victoria is pictured on Good Morning Britain in May 2018
In the documentary, presenter Fiona Bruce attempts to get a better picture of the man Emile is and an understanding of his marriage to Victoria, during which he had affairs and visited prostitutes.
Bruce visits a now closed club run by Ricky Harwood in Sailsbury which Emile made frequent visits to.
Harwood shows Bruce the ‘donkey d***s glory hole’, which he said Emile would make use of when he visited the club while married to Victoria.
Harwood also reveals how Emile was once kicked out of the club because he pushed a woman and made her cry.
How did Emile Cilliers try to kill his wife?
On April 5, 2015, physiotherapist and former Army Captain Victoria Cilliers, who had 2,600 jumps to her name, leapt from the plane at Netheravon Airfield, Wiltshire.
Both parachutes failed and she plummeted helplessly to the ground, leaving her with a broken pelvis, ribs and spinal injuries when her parachute failed during a skydive.
The police initially treated Mrs Cilliers’ doomed skydive like the accident it appeared to have been, but when the Parachute Club inspected her kit they saw it had been tampered with.
Soon after officers received a call from one of Victoria’s friends who told them the marriage wasn’t as secure as it seemed. The police then began investigating the incident as attempted murder.
The parachute was sent off to the British Parachute Association who reported that it had not malfunctioned and appeared to have been tampered with, with several safety parts removed and strings deliberately tangled up.
Before the jump Victoria’s parachute would have been safety checked – and the checks in this case were carried out by Emilie.
The following month he was brought in for questioning and he spoke for six hours, revealing that he’d been having an affair with Stefanie Goller, a woman he’d met on Tinder, and that he didn’t want to be married to Victoria anymore – giving the police a suspected motive.
When officers told Mrs Cilliers about her husbands affairs and visits to prostitutes, she revealed her suspicion that he’d attempted to trigger a gas leak when she and their two children were at their home.
The gas pipe was sent off for forensic examination and it was found that it had been tampered with.
Police then began a trawl of 32,000 WhatsApp messages between Emile and Stefanie Goller, in which he hinted that their relationship would change in April – when the skydive took place.
They also discovered that Emile was in debt and had a life insurance policy that covered both him and Victoria for up to £120,000.
The police finally had enough evidence to bring him to court, where the prosecution had to explain how the parachute had been sabotaged, which they believed had been done in the 10 minutes he was in the toilet before the accident.
They thought that they had a solid case but when Victoria took the stand she said she’d exaggerated her story and even claimed to have sabotaged the parachute and tweaked the gas pipe herself.
The case collapsed as the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict but when the police found the videos they were able to call for a second trial in April of this year because of the threat he could pose to Victoria again.
New evidence found that when Victoria was in intensive care Emile was searching for prostitutes online, and even searched for a wet nurse, seemingly to feed their five-week-old baby when Victoria was no longer around.
After a six week trial and three days of jury deliberations Emile was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and reckless endangerment of his two children and sentenced to 36 years in prison.
The Parachute Murder Plot airs tonight at 9pm on ITV
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