AN army sergeant accused of trying to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute appeared at the Old Bailey today (Monday).

Emile Cilliers, 37, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, faces a retrial in April where he is accused of twice attempting to murder Victoria Cilliers, 40.

Cilliers is said to have sabotaged his wife’s parachute after it failed to open during a 4,000ft jump at Netheravon Airfield.

Mrs Cilliers crash-landed in a field, suffering several broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken leg and spinal injuries after the jump on Easter Sunday 2015.

Prosecutors claim South-African born Cilliers, formerly of Amesbury but now of Aldershot, Hampshire, also deliberately damaged a gas valve at the family home in a bid to kill his wife.

The jury in his first trial at Winchester Crown Court, depleted from 12 to 10 jurors by "stress-related illness", were unable to reach verdicts following a seven-week trial.