Police investigate Victoria Cilliers' nightmare skydive: it's clear it wasn't an accident

​Tuesday:

A highly experienced skydiver and instructor, she was surprised when her parachute failed to open at 4,000ft – but didn’t panic. Her training kicked in, and she cut the faulty ’chute away and deployed her reserve.

However, when that, too, failed to open, she knew she was in trouble.

Somehow Victoria survived the almost mile-high freefall. It was a miracle, but only the beginning of Victoria’s nightmare, which upended her life.

Two dogged detectives investigate the skydiving death of Victoria Cilliers

It transpired that her husband, a Sergeant and physical training instructor in the British Army, had deliberately sabotaged both of her parachutes in an attempt to murder her – and make it look like an accident. Emile, it seems, had wanted to kill his wife so he could start a new life with his lover.

It took police two years to piece together the case from fragments of circumstantial evidence and, even more remarkably, Victoria turned against the prosecution to stand by her husband during the eventual court case.

This turn of events is perhaps explained by the prosecution’s profile of Emile as a controlling and abusive individual who was both charismatic and extremely manipulative.

This three-part documentary series, showing on consecutive nights, comes from BAFTA-nominated film-maker Guy King (Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story). It combines new and exclusive interviews, both with Victoria and with the investigating officers in the case, and dramatic reenactments drawing on verbatim transcripts from the case archive.

The result is an inventive and gripping series that tells every twist of the police investigation and the lies Emile told. Most importantly, it brings into sharp relief the horrendous and damaging power of coercive control and the extent of its reach.

Alisa Pomeroy, Channel 4’s head of documentaries, said: “This is a spell-binding story that captured and shocked the nation. This series will attempt to address some important and thought-provoking questions that arose from this remarkable case.

“The mix of true-crime and drama-documentary and exclusive access to the investigating officers will shed light on the complexities of abusive and coercive relationships and will no doubt educate and enthral our viewers”.

Executive producer Adam Hopkins added: “Having survived such an audacious attempt on her life, Victoria had to confront the painful reality that her entire relationship had been based on lies.

“Director Guy King expertly handles the telling of this multi-layered story, getting beyond the shocking headlines of the case to explore the complexity of coercive control”.

The cast for the dramatised segments is headed by The Witcher and The Responder star MyAnna Buring, whose nuanced and compelling portrayal brings us even deeper into the victim’s nightmarish world.