Retrial as jury fails to reach verdict in parachute sabotage case

An Army sergeant is to face a retrial on charges of attempting to murder hiswife by tampering with her parachute after the first jury failed to reachverdicts.

Emile Cilliers, 37, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, deniedthroughout a seven-week trial at Winchester Crown Court two charges of attempted murder and a third count of damaging a gas fitting.

Victoria Cilliers, a highly-experienced parachuting instructor, sufferednear-fatal injuries after both her main and reserve parachutes failed when she took part in a jump at the Army Parachute Association at Netheravon, Wiltshire, on Easter Sunday, April 5 2015.