Emile Cilliers is on trial accused of attempting to murder his former Army officer wife, Victoria Cilliers
Jurors have failed to reach a verdict in the case of Emile Cilliers (L) who was on trial accused of attempting to murder his former Army officer wife, Victoria Cilliers.

Jurors have failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a British Army sergeant accused of attempting to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute.

Emile Cilliers was accused of two counts of attempted murder of his former wife, Victoria Cilliers, 40, who survived the jump on 5 April 2015 at Netheravon Airfield, but suffered multiple injuries.

Emile Cilliers, 37, now faces a retrial on two counts of attempted murder and another of criminal damage, following the original seven-week trial took place which took at Winchester Crown Court. He had denied all charges against him.

Victoria Cilliers, a highly experienced parachutist and instructor, survived a 4,000ft fall on Easter Sunday when both her main and reserve parachutes failed.

Prosecutors also claimed the defendant made a previous attempt to kill her by deliberately causing a gas leak in the family home days before the fall.

The Crown argued that the murder bids came as Emile Cilliers told his lover, Stefanie Glover, who he met through the Tinder dating app, that he was about to leave his wife.

However, the court heard that the Royal Army Physical Training Corps sergeant was also carrying on an affair with his ex-wife, Carly Cilliers.

Prosecutors said Emile Cilliers, who was based at Aldershot, Hampshire, had debts of £22,000 and believed he would receive a £120,000 life insurance payout on his wife's death.