It’s hard to run out of true crime documentaries when Netflix exists.
I mean, there’s always something to watch if you dig and viewers have been left terrified by this one.
Originally made for ITV back in 2018, The Parachute Murder Plot unravels one of the ‘most unusual murder plots ever heard’.
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The documentary synopsis reads: “Fiona Bruce investigates the true crime story of Emile Cilliers who attempted to kill his wife Victoria by sabotaging her parachute, and how she refused to testify in court.”
It’s been trending on Netflix recently, reaching number six in the Top 10 most watched TV and films in the UK last week (27 November to 3 December).
The real story behind The Parachute Murder Plot has gone down in legal history as one of the ‘most unusual crimes’.
Back in 2015, army sergeant Cilliers sabotaged his wife Victoria’s parachute before she jumped out of a plane at 4,000 feet.
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Miraculously, she survived.
But it did leave her with a broken spine, smashed pelvis and fractured ribs - not to mention the mental scars of an experience like that.
The British Parachute Association investigated her fall, finding both her main and reserve parachute had been sabotaged.
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This parachute plot came after a previous attempt to murder her.
Cilliers had already sabotaged a gas valve at the family home in a bid to kill Victoria.
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Detectives eventually discovered the shocking truth and in 2018, he was convicted of two counts of murder and one count of endangering the lives of his two young children following a retrial.
Mr Justice Sweeney said while sentencing: “Your offending was extremely serious with your two attempts to murder your wife.
"They were planned and carried out in cold blood for your own selfish purposes which include financial gain.
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“You have shown yourself to be a person of quite exceptional callousness who will stop at nothing to satisfy his own desires, material or otherwise.
“Nor have you shown the least sign of remorse.”
He insisted he was innocent and even blocked Victoria’s attempt of divorce.
Cilliers had control over his wife, and it wasn’t until months into his jail time she stopped visiting him.
This popular documentary also features one of his ex-girlfriends who speaks about the ‘mental abuse’ she suffered from him.
After watching the doc on Netflix, one user wrote on X: “Jeez how scary is this guy!! good grief! #parachutesaredangerous!”
Another put: “The Parachute murder plot on Netflix. It made me cry, a man so evil with no emotion whatsoever. It triggered a lot for me.”
Topics: Netflix, TV and Film, True Crime
Jess Battison