Victoria Cilliers who survived husband’s skydive homicide plot at 3,000ft remarries – with fellow skydiving fanatic
A woman who survived a 3,000ft fall after her husband tampered with her parachute has remarried – to a fellow skydiving enthusiast.
Mother-of-two Victoria Cilliers, 48, walked down the aisle with Simon Goodman – a former Royal Marine – at a register office last weekend.
The couple began dating in 2018, three years after Emile Cilliers tried to kill her by firstly tampering with gas pipes at their home and then by slicing apart her parachute rigging.
Mr Cilliers, who was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and a third charge of recklessly endangering life, received a minimum 18-year sentence.
Remarkably, Victoria met Mr Goodman at the same Wiltshire parachute club where her former husband launched his wicked plot.
Mother-of-two Victoria Cilliers, 48, married Simon Goodman – a former Royal Marine – at a register office last weekend.
Ms Cilliers was pictured with Simon Goodman in 2020 as they walked through their home town
Mr Cilliers, who was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and a third charge of recklessly endangering life, received a minimum 18-year sentence
The Mail understands only a small group of the couple’s closest friends and family members attended the ceremony followed by a low-key reception.
Today, a friend said: ‘It was a close-knit occasion, just very fun and no fuss. Vicki has been through so much. She deserves this happiness more than anyone I know.’
Mr Goodman, who is originally from Somerset, served in the Royal Marines for 30 years before retiring from the military. This is the 53-year-old’s first marriage.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he is an apprentice paramedic with South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.
Victoria, who suffered a broken pelvis and four fractures of her spine in the fall in April 2015, was subsequently a key witness in her ex-husband’s trial.
Her remarkable ordeal was dramatised by Channel 4 in a three-part serial ‘The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot’.
In a 2020 interview with the Mail, she described her new partner as ‘her rock’, saying: ‘I try not to rely on him too much emotionally but practically he’s brilliant.
‘He’s been aware of everything right from the start. I don’t think I could have dated someone who didn’t know. The thought of explaining my past would have been too much.
Remarkably, Victoria (pictured) met Mr Goodman at the same Wiltshire parachute club where her former husband launched his wicked plot
The couple (pictured in 2020) began dating in 2018, three years after Emile Cilliers tried to kill her by firstly tampering with gas pipes at their home and then by slicing apart her parachute rigging
A veteran of 2,500 jumps and a former parachute instructor, Ms Cilliers (pictured above with ex-husband Emile) suffered near-fatal injuries in the failed jump at Netheravon Airfield, the headquarters of the British Parachute Association, on April 5, 2015
‘We have a similar circle of friends and I’ve known him for years, which is the only way it would have worked because of trust issues.
‘I’ve had a surfeit of romanticism and he [Mr Goodman] didn’t bombard me with attention or affection. I look for constancy and consistency now.
‘He’s not gushy or demonstrative, which actually makes me feel more comfortable.’
Victoria had met Cilliers at an army base in Wiltshire in 2009. He told her he had two children from his first marriage – but did not mention another two children he had fathered with a girlfriend.
Victoria and Emile married in South Africa but he was a serial womaniser indulging in casual sex with other women and long-term affairs, including with his first wife.
He then devised a plot to kill her and pocket £120,000 from an insurance policy before starting a new life with his secret girlfriend Stefanie Goller.
But Victoria noticed the gas leak from their marital home before it proved fatal. Days later he cut her parachute before she embarked on a freefall jump.
Both the main chute and the reserve failed. But using her expertise honed by 2,500 jumps, she inflated enough of the second canopy to slow her descent.
She attributed her survival to ‘not weighing very much’ – around 8 stone – and that she landed in a recently ploughed field, which meant the piles of soil partially cushioned her fall.
Victoria and Emile married in South Africa but he was a serial womaniser indulging in casual sex with other women and long-term affairs, including with his first wife
Mr Cilliers pictured in 2017 arriving at Winchester crown court. He has continued to swear his innocence and initially refused to sign divorce papers
Mr Cilliers, who has continued to swear his innocence, initially refused to sign her divorce papers.
It also took Victoria several years before she could accept her husband’s guilt.
In interviews, she has admitted struggling to get her head around the idea that her husband – the father of her two children – could have wanted to murder her.
Mr Cilliers is originally from South Africa and faces deportation at the end of his jail term. He was serving in the British Army’s Physical Training Corps (APTC) at the time of his offences.
