Parachute trial: Wife 'expanded' claims against husband

Victoria Cilliers almost died in the 2015 parachute jump

The wife of an Army sergeant accused of tampering with her parachute said she "expanded" her claims to the police in an attempt to hurt him.

Victoria Cilliers, 41, survived a 4,000ft (1,220m) fall after both her main and reserve parachute failed during a jump in Wiltshire.

Emile Cilliers, 38, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps in Aldershot, is on trial at Winchester Crown Court.

He denies two charges of attempted murder.

Mrs Cilliers repeatedly told the court she deliberately tried to paint a bad picture of her husband throughout several police interviews.

A video of her 2015 interview with police was played to the court.

'Doubts about marriage'

In the tape, Mrs Cilliers said her husband had been on several trips abroad while she was heavily pregnant, which he claimed were part of his job.

But in fact, she said, he had been on holiday with another woman. On his return home he expressed doubts about their marriage and said he planned to move out.

Mrs Cilliers said she cried so much she "thought it might harm the baby".

He later arranged for a parachute jump, which she told police "made her happy" as he wanted to do something "fun" with her.

She described how, at the airfield, he collected a parachute kit for her and took the rig and their young child to the toilet.

Mrs Cilliers told police: "It struck me as a little bit odd. Normally you'd just put your rig down somewhere, you wouldn't take it with you."

Owing to poor weather conditions, the jump was rearranged for the following day, Easter Sunday.

But instead of handing the kit back to the store, as she would normally have done, Mr Cilliers told his wife to put it back into their locker overnight.

'Financial mismanagement'

The video also showed Mrs Cilliers telling officers about her husband's history of financial mismanagement, including the fact he was in debt to a number of people, had defaulted on loans, and took money from her savings account when he said he had not.

She told police he arranged an overdraft and loan on a joint account without her knowledge, claimed his bank account had been hacked, and lied that "banking issues" had delayed his wages.

Mr Cilliers also took his wife's credit card when she was in intensive care, and bought a number of items with it including an expensive coffee machine, which he said had been a gift from colleagues.

The court heard Mr Cilliers was seeing an Austrian woman called Stefanie Goller and was planning a new life with her, while also sleeping with his ex-wife Carly Cilliers and arranging unprotected sex sessions with prostitutes.

When questioned by Michael Bowes QC, Mrs Cilliers said: "I was angry and I was hurting. I expanded [on the truth] because I knew it would raise questions about the jump".

Mr Bowes read a series of text messages from Mrs Cilliers to some of her friends and to her mother-in-law.

The messages said: "He has admitted financial fraud and using my money to finance his relationship with his girlfriend. I wouldn't say it openly but he is a professional conman."

"He's taken tens of thousands of pounds off me. He told his girlfriend we were separated and that [our son] wasn't his and that I had an affair. This is not just my opinion, he admitted it all to the police".

Mr Bowes put it to the witness she had been telling the truth when she gave her police statements. "You did not exaggerate, in fact you were being very fair. You are a former army officer. You are an upright and honest person, aren't you?"

Mrs Cilliers replied: "Yes, for the most part".

Mr Cilliers denies two counts of attempted murder and one of damaging a gas valve, recklessly endangering life.

The trial continues.