Victoria Cilliers who survived husband’s skydive murder plot at 3,000ft remarries – with fellow parachuting enthusiast

A woman who survived a 3,000-foot fall after her husband tampered with her parachute has remarried a fellow skydiving enthusiast.

Mum-of-two Victoria Cilliers, 48, walked down the aisle with Simon Goodman – a former Royal Marine – at a registry office last weekend.

The couple started dating in 2018, three years after Emile Cilliers tried to kill her by first tampering with the gas pipes at their home and then cutting apart her parachute harness.

Mr Cilliers, who was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and a third charge of recklessly endangering life, was jailed for a minimum of 18 years.

Remarkably, Victoria met Mr Goodman at the same parachute club in Wiltshire where her former husband launched his evil plan.

Ms Cilliers was pictured with Simon Goodman in 2020 as they walked around their home town

Mr Cilliers, who was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder and a third charge of recklessly endangering life, was jailed for a minimum of 18 years

The Mail understands that only a small group of the couple’s closest friends and family members attended the ceremony, followed by a quiet reception.

Today a friend said: ‘It was a bonding occasion, just great 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 army. This is the 53-year-old’s first marriage.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he is a trainee paramedic at South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

Victoria, who suffered a broken pelvis and four fractures of her spine in the fall of April 2015, was subsequently a key witness in the trial of her ex-husband.

Her remarkable ordeal was dramatized by Channel 4 in a three-part series ‘The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot’.

In an interview with the Mail in 2020, she described her new partner as ‘her rock’ and said: ‘I try not to rely on him too much emotionally, but in practice he’s brilliant.

‘From the beginning he was aware of everything. 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 parachute club in Wiltshire where her former husband launched his evil plan.

The couple (pictured in 2020) started dating in 2018, three years after Emile Cilliers tried to kill her by first tampering with the gas pipes at their home and then cutting apart her parachute harness.

Mrs Cilliers (pictured above with ex-husband Emile), a veteran of 2,500 jumps and former parachute instructor, suffered near-fatal injuries during the failed jump at Netheravon Airfield, 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 an overload of romance, and so has he [Mr Goodman] didn’t bombard me with attention or affection. I now look for steadfastness and consistency.

“He’s not pushy 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 womanizer who indulged in casual sex with other women and long-term affairs, including with his first wife.

He then hatched 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 began a free fall.

Both the main parachute and the reserve failed. But using her expertise, honed by 2,500 jumps, she blew up the second canopy enough to slow her descent.

She attributed her survival to the fact that she ‘didn’t weigh much’ (about 8 stone) and that she had landed on a recently plowed field, meaning the piles of soil partly cushioned her fall.

Victoria and Emile married in South Africa, but he was a serial womanizer who indulged in casual sex with other women and long-term affairs, including with his first wife

Mr Cilliers, pictured in 2017, arrives at Winchester Crown Court. He continued to swear his innocence and initially refused to sign the divorce papers

Mr Cilliers, who continues to swear his innocence, initially refused to sign her divorce papers.

It also took several years for Victoria to accept her husband’s guilt.

In interviews, she has admitted that she struggled to understand the idea that her husband, the father of her two children, had wanted to kill her.

Mr Cilliers is originally from South Africa and faces deportation at the end of his prison sentence. He was serving in the British Army’s Physical Training Corps (APTC) at the time of his offences.