Morbid - Episode 428: The Survival Tale of Vicky Cilliers

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

On April 4, 2015, thirty-nine-year-old Victoria “Vicky” Cilliers leaped from an airplane flying 4,000 feet above the ground. Vicky was an expert parachutist, so the dive on that Easter Sunday should have been no different—but this one was… For some reason, her chute failed to open, and she plummeted three-quarters of a mile to the ground.... BUT SHE SURVIVED THE FALL! The question remaining? Who had tampered with Vicky's chute?Support: Check out the National Gender Based Violence Learning community: https://ngbvlc.org Battered Women's Justice Project. If you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship and needs resources, please go to bwjp.orgReferencesBell, Bethan. 2018. Parachute plot: The ex-girlfriend who walked away. May 25. Accessed January 10, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-44226692.—. 2018. Sex, lies and payday loans: The parachute murder plot. June 15. Accessed January 10, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-44209421.Brown, David. 2016. "Soldier Charged Over Wife's Parachute Fall." The Times, September 14.Bynorth, John. 2017. "Trial Told Army Sergeant Tried to Kill Wife By Removing." The Herald, October 4.Cilliers, Victoria. 2020. I Survived: I Married a Charming Man, Then He Tried to Kill Me. London, UK: Pan Macmilan.Farmer, Ben. 2015. "Soldier Held for Attempted Murder after Wife's Parachute Fails." Daily Telegraph, May 11.Gazette & Herald . 2017. "Wife Who Survived Murder Attempt is Top Parachutist, Court Hears." Gazette & Herald, October 6.Gazette & Herald. 2017. "Paris Rowing Trip for Army Sergeant Awaiting Attempted Murder Trial." Gazette & Herald, January 12.Humphries, Will. 2018. "Life in Jail for Sergeant Who Sabotaged Wife's Parachute." The Times, June 16.—. 2017. "Sergeant's 'Parachute Plot to Kill Wife'." The Times, November 5.—. 2017. "Wife Was 'Out for Blood' after She Survived Parachute Fall." The Times, October 26.Kleeman, Jenny. 2018. "He Has Traits of a Psychopath: the Inside Story of the Parachute Murder Plot." The Guardian, July 14.Morris, Steven. 2018. "'Shocking Betrayal:" The Soldier, the Lover and the Sabotaged Parachute." The Guardin, May 24.Myers, Russell. 2015. "Wife of man arrested for her attempted murder after her parachute failed to open." Daily Mirror, May 10.O'Sullivan, Kyle. 2020. Emile Cilliers' final disgusting insult to wife Victoria after trying to murder her twice. August 10. Accessed January 12, 2023. https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/emile-cilliers-final-disgusting-insult-22486913.Press Association. 2017. Jury in Emile Cilliers case defends itself after judge's bullying direction. November 23. Accessed January 12, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/23/jury-in-emile-cilliers-case-defends-itself-after-judges-bullying-direction.Sewer, Patrick. 2018. "Wife Who Stood by Husband after He Tried to Kill Her Sees Him Jailed." Daily Telegraph, June 16.Siddique, Haroon. 2017. Parachute trial jury fail to reach verdict forcing retrial of Emile Cilliers. November 23. Accessed January 12, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/23/jury-dismissed-in-trial-of-man-emile-cilliers-accused-of-tampering-with-wifes-parachute.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to Immorbid Network Podcast. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. Our newest series looks at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about two judges who stood accused of making millions of dollars in a brazen scheme that shattered the lives of countless children. Listen to American scandal on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey weirdos, I'm Alina and I'm Ash and this is morbid. And we got new chairs.

We did. And so if you hear a little bit of squeaking, it's just because we're getting used to them. Yeah, but they're not nearly as squeaky as my last chair. No, no. And not even the same kind of squeaky. No, not at all. It's like on wheels. It's like on wheels.

Ever heard of it? Ever heard of an office chair? Ever heard of a luxurious leather office chair? Have chair? Ever heard of luxurious leather office chair? Have you? Cause we have, I named mine Richard Gilmore. I haven't named mine yet. Let me know if you have suggestions. Oh, there you go.

We're taking a poll. Yeah, I might as well. I like it. I don't really know. Um, well yeah. My case today is fucking crazy. I'm ready. It literally starts with a jump from an airplane.

Like that's where we start. Okay. But where do you go from? Where do we go? From here. You don't know what that is yet, but you will on the rewatcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I thought that you were just singing, where do we go from here?

The wrong way. And I was like, no, no, no, stop. I was singing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer song from one's more with feeling. Yeah, the musical one. Yeah. You know what's funny? is I've seen that episode, like somehow I saw that episode,

but I don't have any recollection other than, they got the mustard out. That's all I remember. It's a great episode, guys. Yeah. You're like, I don't know how to segue away from that. I really do. I was just like, um, yeah.

New chairs, Buffy Rocks, listen to the rewatcher. Oh, fucking frozen head, everybody. Oh yeah, you guys are sure that we did with Wondery, like we partnered with them and like we did it. It's at number six on the charts. So like, shout out to your ears. Yeah, shout out to your ear meat, because that's fucking sick.

Yeah, like, thank you guys so much. It's been really cool to see it. It was 10 yesterday and then it climbed all the way back up to, or not back up. It climbed all the way up to six. Yeah. It was really cool. It's pretty rad.

That was a really, it's a really, really, really crazy and cool story. Yeah. And they did a really good job of putting it together, like the music and everything. It's a really cool list and it's different than anything we've done. So I like it a lot. Go check it out.

It's bingeable. It's snackable. Like, oh, you can eat it up totally. Yeah, if you're not one of those people who brought it to number six on the charts, then I don't know what you're doing, but... We forgive you, but we'll forgive you more if you go binge it.

Exactly. Well, so thanks. Thanks for that, but this is more bid as you well know. So let's get into the more, more positive, yeah. But all. Yeah, no. More positive. Yeah, that's positive. I more, more policy of it. Yeah, no more positive. Yeah, it's policy. I'm policy.

There you go. Are you the first girl to scream on the track? I'm not. Yeah, I know. I am not. All right, well like I said, today's case starts with an actual jump from an airplane. By the way, it's a survival tale, so don't worry.

Oh, here we go. That's a hell of a first sentence. I love it. You've jumped from an airplane. By the way, everybody survives. All right, we we go. That's a hell of a first sentence. I love it. You really have to jump from an airplane, by the way, everybody survives. All right, we're here. Yay. But on April 4th, 2015, 39 year old Victoria,

Vicki, Silly A, leapt from an airplane flying 4,000 feet above the ground. No big deal. Pretty fucking high. Yeah. She was an expert parachuteist. I think is how you would say that. I love it.

Vicki had done similar jumps like a million times. So the dive on that Easter Sunday shouldn't have been any different from all the other ones that she'd done. Oh, so she didn't dive out of an airplane like Sons parachute, like she was... No, no, she had a parachute. She was okay. Yeah.

Just for a second, I thought somebody just dove out. No, no, no, no, no, she was a parachuteist. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, she had a parachute. But this one was different because for some reason, thanks for the Segway, her shoot actually failed to open. Oh, and as she was plummeting three quarters of a mile to the ground, it continued to fail to open.

Yeah. At certain points during that fall, she was traveling as fast as a hundred miles per hour. Ooh. And luckily, she ended up slowing down before she hit the ground, which probably is what saved her life because everybody, she survived this fall. Damn. Obviously she didn't walk away without any scratches.

Like you fall that far to the ground, you're probably gonna have a scratcher too. Yeah. She had some gnarly injuries. She broke multiple ribs. I fucking hate this. She broke her collarbone. Oh, the clavicle break always freaks me out. Because it's so thick of her.

It is so thick. I've set a performance and I'll say it again. It takes all my might and all my body weight to crack a clavicle with the rib cutters. Thank you so much for that. Yeah, it's the hardest one. I bet. I always have to give a deep breath in and I gotta give everything I got. Give gum shit. And usually it's a couple of cracks. Oh God. Yeah. Yeah.

So you break that. That's, yeah, it's a lot of pressure. It's the most. She also severely injured her spinal cord. Oh, like the fact that this woman was not paralyzed. Yeah. Yeah. Bunkers, like someone was on her side that day. Yeah. Now those injuries and the psychological damage alone were bad enough. But things got a lot worse for Vicki when she learned that her injuries weren't necessarily caused by a fluke skydiving accident.

Did someone fuck with her parachute? Her parachute had been tampered with. It had been fucking with. And the person who had tampered them? It's someone she cares about, isn't it? This wasn't even their first attempt at killing Vicki. They'd tried before. So at first, she was in complete denial

because the person who done this to her was her husband. I knew it. I knew you were gonna say that. I knew it. At murder apparel. A husband did it. A meal. A fucking kidding meal.

A meal piece of shit, Silly A. A meal. What the fuck? A sergeant with the Britain's Royal Army Physical Training Corps was the one who had done this to her. Garbage. Garbage. It would take two trials actually,

and more than five years before Vicki, excuse me, was willing to accept the truth, but she did eventually. Good, I'm glad she did, but holy shit, that must have been hard. So let's go back to the beginning. Let's go. Vicki's silly A, our girly girl.

She was born in Edinburgh. Edinburgh. Scotland, in 1975, to a Scottish mother. Yeah, that wasn't Scottish, but I like that anyway. Scottish is so hard to do. It is, it's very hard. Can you do? I, it takes me a long time to get into a Scottish accent.

I don't even know if I can just pull it out. Give it a go. I honestly don't know. I'd have to hear it first. I don't want to give it a go. You'd have to hear it first. Like if I hear it first, I can sometimes get into it, but I'm not good at it.

It's hard to do. The only thing I can say in like a broke is, don't get. Don't get. That was really good. That was better than mine. Fuck out of here Anyways, yeah her mom Was coach she was not a don't get not a don't get she was school dish

That was really good. I'm getting there and her father was English English English Her parents were super duper busy people her mom mom was a nurse, and her dad was actually working in a budding IT industry. Look at them. But when Vicki was born, they completely reoriented their lives to make sure that she had the most stable, the most supportive home life that she possibly could. Good parents.

Her mom actually left her job as a nurse not long after Vicki was born, because she wanted to be such a present part of her life. Oh, so she completely refocused her attention on managing the home and raising her children full time in Haddington. That's a small town about 20 miles east of Edinburgh. Mm, and four years later in 1979,

Vicki's brother Christopher was born adorbs. Yes, her mom's like a homemaker. They, it was like a really sweet family. It sounds it. Vicki looked back on her childhood really fondly. She said that her family was quote, the perfect nuclear family and that they were all quote, reassuringly normal.

Oh, I love it, which I was like, well, what's that like? Everybody's like, what? Normal what? Literally everybody. But sadly, things took a turn when Vicki turned 14. Her mom was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Oh my God.

I can't even imagine. Oh, like I truly can't even imagine how horrific that would be. Yeah. So she was able to receive surgery and chemotherapy, but the treatment took a huge toll on her. Anybody who has seen anybody go through cancer treatment, it's like, I don't know how people do it.

It's horrific. And the fact that people come out on the other side and like beat cancer, when you see what cancer does to your fucking body, it's insane. It's awful. Now, so obviously, yeah, it took a huge toll on her and it interfered with her ability to be fully present. Of course.

That would have interfered with anybody's. But despite that, Vicki still remembers her mom doing everything in her power to be the most active participant in everyone in the family's life. That's impressive. She did her best. But unfortunately, less than two years later, just before Vicki turned 16,

her mom was moved into hospice and she did pass away. Not long after. Oh, that's awful. Now, Vicki's mom passed pretty much everybody in the family kind of just like retreated into themselves Vicki was doing her best to really just distract herself from everything But she was like I can't feel this right now like it's too much Yeah, I don't blame her and it was during that kind of morning and distracting period that she developed her interest in skydiving. The reason being because she saw a flyer about town advertising a charity parachute jump. And she decided to dive in.

She was like, sure, I'll dive out of a plane. Yeah, exactly. She was like, you know what? What about us? If there's ever a time where you're gonna jump out of a plane, I think that's the time. Yeah, I would say so. With the parachute.

So she dove in and out. And she attended the requisite classes and just like different information sessions. And once that was all complete, Vicki and her fellow students were taken up into one of those small prop planes. Nope. And in that moment, she realized she had a fucking passion

for the sport. Wow, she loved it. She actually has an autobiography, excuse me, and she recalls the moment, saying, quote, the icy air rushed past me, almost burning the sides of my face, and right then, a couple thousand feet above any of life's worries, I felt utter freedom. Wow.

Isn't that beautiful? Imagine feeling that when you jump out of a plane. I think I would. I would feel cardiac arrest. I want to go skydiving like really, really, really badly, but I won't do it because of your kids. I love that because I don't want to like kick it. That's adorable.

I don't want to kick it, you know. I have never nor will I ever have any want or need in any cell in my body. You don't want to go up and have a plan and jump out of it. What are you talking about? You love flying. Yeah, I don't want to do any of that. No, I don't believe you. None of it. I've always wanted to skydive, but I don't want to bungee jump.

I don't want to skydive. I don't want to. You know, it's funny. I don't want to zip line. I don't want to do any of that. I'm going on a zip line. Bungie jumping to me. I like when I was younger, I was like,

oh my god, that looks like so much fun. That looks so fucking bad. I would fucking do that, man. That's so gnarly. Now I'm like, nah, that should get snapped really easy. Yeah. And like, I don't know if I trust anyone enough to hold the other end of that court.

Absolutely not. You know what I'm thinking? So, and after this story, I don't want to go skydiving. You know, I don't think Drew did this to me, but you know, you never know. You never know. You don't know any of it. You don't know.. You don't know.

She didn't think that, no exactly. So four years after her first jump, Vicki was attending university when she, excuse me, where she was studying to become a physiotherapist. Vicki's the baddest Vicki is a bad bitch. And a friend there invited her to a quote, seminar aimed at medical and nursing students

interested in joining the Royal Army Medical Corps. Damn. Now at the time, Vicki had fallen kind of into like a rut. She was just feeling like everything about life was mundane. So this really seemed like the thing that was going to get her out of that rut. And it combined all of her interests, so it kind of seemed like Kismet. Kismet. Kismet, baby.

She applied and within six months she was accepted. Now her enlistment and early years in the military actually coincided with the British involvement in different military conflicts and Balkans and Balkans yep and Balkans I was just saying it fancy Elena and Kazova Kosova yep, thank you, girl. Who needs Google translate when you have Elena Balkans, I'm Kosova. I'm not world-tly, all right? I think she's just a bush.

You got Mikey. Mikey, who you probably heard us talk about on the rewatcher is officially in the pod lab at all times now. So you may hear that Chuckle. Yeah, no chocolate. That one was was necessary you guys didn't get to hear the crazy thing I said earlier by accident, but oh my lord we're not gonna talk about Bruno Balkans Balkans Kosovo. What is it Balkans and what's up Kosovo. Thank you I Haven't traveled outside the United States of America, right? I'm really there. Well, I have but like yeah But you're world'sliest fuck you wrote a book. You're worldly.

I didn't write a fucking book. Anyways, it made her an asset to me. It was her hospital. It sure did. She was treating soldiers who'd been injured in combat. She was doing the damn thing. She sure was. Now, when the conflict kind of started to wind down,

Vicki returned to civilian life. And as is often the case with a lot of veterans, she really felt aimless without the rigidity. I can never say that. I can type it, but I can't say it. Yeah. Of the military. And that aimless feeling is actually what brought her back

to Skydepping. Good job. Brickley, Asian-ally. I'm following. Good job. And it was then that she met her first husband, not a meal. Not a meal.

Brett. But Brett's also a dick. Their marriage only lasted a few years because he cheated on her. Oh, fucking Brett. Yeah, come on. I know. Jesus. Now, once they divorced, Vicki was left feeling completely vulnerable and just lost.

Like, she didn't know what to do to get her life back. Yeah. I'm trying. I'm trying to like what the hell. But in 2009, she met her second husband and she was probably freaking stoked. Of course. This is Amille Siliet. Now at the time he was actually in rehab like a like a health rehab getting treatment for a knee injury that he received while he was skiing on the Royal Army Physical Training Corps ski team. Oh so there's some like interests. Yeah. It's pretty aligned.

Yeah overlapping interests for sure. Now, Emil, what's his story, you say? I don't really ask. I know. I got to say that. Yeah, no, nobody really does. That's okay. But he was born and raised in South Africa.

He moved to the UK in 2000 and left his two kids behind. Wow. So he's just a piece of shit all all the way like just from the jump from the He from the jump. Yeah, he didn't he didn't waste any time. He was just like whoop. I'm a piece of shit Yeah, pretty much but to everybody else he was like I'm not a piece of shit I don't even know if he was he even hide it. I'm not really well I mean till like Vicki he must have been different Yeah, I mean she must have had something that he liked.

He, to me, seems to be somebody that can turn on the charm one necessary and fucking dial that down when he just doesn't give a shit about you. When he wants to reel you in and kind of like get you into his web, exactly. He'll show you his best face and then as soon as you're in there, gone.

Yeah, that makes sense. That's awesome. Now, yeah, so he left behind his two children. He kind of worked various service jobs and pubs and on farms. He actually met his first wife, Carly, on a farm. They married soon after they started dating and they had those two children together. But around the time that Emil, around that time, like after they had the kids, Emil started becoming interested in joining the military. And that was when he settled on the Royal Army

Physical Training Corps. He and Carly separated in 2009. He said that their marriage was in trouble and that's why he wanted to separate. And a year later in 2010 he started dating Vicki. So he moved on pretty quickly. Emil and Vicki got married in 2011 and they actually had their ceremony in South Africa. But their marriage really never got off to a good start. Didn't really start on the right foot, sad. Because Meele had divorced his previous wife, Carly. But while he was married to Vicki,

he still continued a sexual relationship with Carly. Oh, yeah, that's a really bad foot. That's not even a foot. That's, that's the worst. That's the worst foot. That's an ass right there. That is an ass. He described himself as a quote, very sexually active person. Shut the fuck up. And his unfaithfulness really only increased when Vicki became pregnant with their first child. Oh, let's all collectively just kick him in the shin. Yeah, all together. Full of them.

Yeah, like lineup. Let's shine on the planet. Let's go. Just all day every day, just kicking him in the shin. He also, while Vicky was pregnant, was not only seeing Carly, but started hiring sex workers too. I mean, I'll get the fuck outta here.

And let me be clear, if you want to hire a sex worker, go off, live your best life. Not when you're married and your life is pregnant. No, you're an asshole. What the fuck is wrong with you? Yeah, fuck off. That's horrific. He's a douche canue on fire with a swarm of flies circling nearby. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, he is. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about corruption inside

America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children and force a heated debate about punishment, an America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App. This kind of behavior intensified after they got married, but his douchey was like really

always there. And a lot of people feel like it started when he was a teenager still living in South Africa. His first ever girlfriend, Nicolene, he actually had his first two children with her. I messed up, I think previously I said, yeah, I'm with Carly. His first two children were with Nicolene and then he also had children with Carly. So he left all of that. So he's just leaving all his children. Yeah, exactly.

But Nicolene described to him as charismatic and romantic with an easy charm that he frequently employed on young women. By a meal. Yeah. Nicolene and Emil started dating when she was 13 and he was 16. And according to her, quote, he cheated on me time after time. But I always took him back. Wow.

Which honestly speaks to the way that he's like a master manipulator and like, he can just charm his way out of things. In fact, when Emil moved to the UK in 2000, Nicolene still believed that they were in a relationship and actually didn't find out that they weren't until she found out he had married Carly. Wow. That's how she found out that they weren't together anymore. Wow.

And a few years later, she moved to the UK with her two kids and reconnected with a meal. I mean, he's the father of her children. And he told her that he and Carly were separated. They weren't. But he started having relations with Nicolene again. He's living like 15 lives. I'm like, how do you keep this all straight with her? Seriously. Now luckily Nicolene found out pretty quickly

that he was a lying sack of shit because he left his phone at her house one night. Uh-oh. And it started ring over and ring and she answered and you want to know who it was? Carly. Carly. Yeah. Carly told her that she and a meal were very much still married, probably not for long now, but they were. And in a girl boss times two move, they actually confronted him together. Fuck yeah. Carly and Nicolene. The other woman. Hell yeah. Love that movie. Nicolene said. Oh, such a good movie. Remember when we just like randomly watched that

mom? Yeah, I was just gonna say we watched that with mom. Yeah, it's really good. But Nicolene said that during this confrontation, Emil quote, came in and spoke to me in Afrikaans as he knew Carly wouldn't understand. That's fucked up. He was as calm as anything. He looked from one of us to the other as if he was thinking who wants me the most. Ew. He chose me and I knew then that I needed to walk away. Yeah. So ultimately both of them eventually learned that his cheating was kind of a symptom of the larger problem of his profoundly selfish nature.

After the couple had separated the first time and Nicolene was having difficulty affording just like essential items for their children like diapers. Amio would tell her that he couldn't help her because he had no money, but then he would turn around and buy himself expensive things like shoes and clothes and higher sex workers. Awesome. Like no, I can't get diapers for our kids, but I'm going to go get a brand new outfit, a brand new pair of shoes and I'm going to have some fun tonight. You're a piece of shit.

He just didn't give a shit And you're a piece of shit. Like an actual piece of shit. About anybody's desires except for his own. Even his own kids' needs were going on met. And as long as he got what he wanted, he just didn't care. He didn't care. You know what, he's got that face.

I just looked him up and I was like, my God, he has a punchable face. He looks like such a douchebag. And he looks like a dick. Yeah, he is. Like he is. He looks like he's a dick and he looks like an actual penis. Like he looks such a douchebag. And he looks like a dick. Yeah, he is. Like he is. He looks like he's a dick and he looks like an actual penis. Like he looks like a dick.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Fuck you, Emil. Fuck you. You heard it here. Now, like I said, by the time Vicki had become pregnant with her and Emil's second child in 2014, their marriage was in complete shambles.

Yeah. Vicki started suspecting that he might be having an affair. She would later tell a jury, he was constantly on his phone, and I wasn't allowed to go anywhere near it. Yeah, that's pretty much your red flag. That's your red flag, but his behavior,

his secretive behavior, went way beyond his cell phone. He was gone for long periods of time. He would stay out late at night and offer flimsy at best excuses. Like, oh yeah, I just had to work late. And she's like until four o'clock in the morning. Yeah. I don't really think so.

What's worse though is she was probably in that state where she was trying to justify it in her own mind. I mean, yeah, because she's trying anything to come up with. Yeah. She's even when you're not pregnant, which is like how vulnerable and connected to someone you feel, and trying to make work, you always try to like justify it and be like, well,

maybe, yeah. Maybe that makes sense. Yeah, I mean, you're married. Yeah, I can't imagine that. Like, obviously, there had to have been beautiful moments in your relationship for you to take that. Yeah, you would think. And it's like, you're probably looking back on all those moments and you're like,

should I throw it away? Those kind of guys are so good at that shit. Mm-hmm. They make those moments happen so that you will think of those moments when they do all the other bad shit that they do. Exactly. Because like my ex was exactly like that. It was like you were like, well, like he is nice in this way or like there was that one time, you know, like, yeah, you think of all those nice things and then but like 99% of the time he's a piece shit. Well, because I remember even like when I was younger and like you were

dating him, it's like, he made you feel like the most special girl in the world and like did special things with you and like all that stuff, but then could turn around and be a fucking demon to you. But you're like, in that moment, you're not, you're weighing both of those options. Obviously, you're going to look at the good. Exactly. And then in Vicki's case, you add a baby. A baby in that fact that they're married.

A baby already, the fact that they're married and she's pregnant with their second child. Yeah, that is way more involved. That's a lot to confront. Yeah, I can't even fathom that. So she just did her best to lean into the marriage. This like breaks my heart. She started sending more kind of like saucy, romantic text messages, like just trying her best,

but everything was one sided. She later told reporters I was scared, panicky. Everything seemed to be going massively pear-shaped and I didn't really understand why. I didn't understand what I had done wrong. I didn't do anything. No, I felt like I was living on a time bomb, not knowing if at any point he might turn around and say,

I'm off. Oh, and it's like, I just can't imagine, like we said, like in the situation that she was in, worrying about your husband, who like helped you in the situation that she was in worrying about your husband who like helped you create the life that already lives in your house and in your fucking womb. Just being like, yeah, I'm out. Just being like at any time.

Like you could just turn around and be like, forget it. To be as emotional as you are when you're pregnant and then add that on top of it. Oh, I can't even imagine. That's a fucking nightmare. Yeah. Now given that her last marriage also by the way ended with her being cheated on Vicki spheres of a meal's potential in fidelity weren't unreasonable

No, given the fact that it was actually happening Yeah, but a meal would just use that the fact that that had happened against her and tell her that she was overreacting He'd call her emotional Emotional and he would just manipulate the situation He'd call her emotional, emotional, and he would just manipulate the situation, basically being like, no, it's all in your head. It's coming from past trauma. Like you're annoying.

You're annoying. You're annoying. It seems like when he wasn't ignoring Vicki, you're asking her for money. He just used her as a target to be cruel to you. That's awful. Yeah, he would always make threats of ending their marriage, but like empty threats.

He would make comments like, I think we've gotten married too soon. Oh, Shut up. Which he knew would cause her to back down and immediately she just forgive whatever he'd done to upset her in the first She was worried it was gonna turn into something bigger. Mm-hmm. Now later in an interview with the Guardian One of the detectives on the case and they call them detective inspector. I know I love that fucking love it But yes that, Maddie Hannah, told the reporter that during the course of their investigation, several of Vicky's friends actually indicated

that the couple had been in an abusive relationship. Oh. She said there were domestic abuse issues within the relationship that weren't obvious from the outside. We're not talking about black eyes and bruises. We're talking about unseen stuff. The abuse followed a typical pattern. You treat somebody like a princess,

and then you do something really unacceptable and underhand. But when you get found out, you treat them like a princess again. Exactly. The woman keeps thinking, he's treated me really well. I'll let him off with that one. Wow. And that happens again. It becomes that she is so squashed by it, she just accepts that that's what life is. Wow. How sad is that? Yeah. And I just like, how do you do that to another person? You have to be such a sad person yourself.

And like a sociopath, honestly. When he wasn't being secretive about his comings and goings, Amiel was also starting to be secretive about money and he was asking Vicki for money more and more frequently. Around the time that Vicki became pregnant with the second child, Amel actually had gotten himself into about $24,000 in debt. Jesus, what was he doing?

I think it was all the money that he was spending on probably sex workers, expensive shoes, expensive clothes. He probably like to go to fancy restaurants, you know, like just living with the guy. Yes, way beyond his means. And he also recently learned that his father had become ill in South Africa. So he asked Vicki for money to send his father for treatment. And she was like, oh my god, of course. Like, why would you ever say no to that? Yeah. But later she found out that he kept the money

for himself, spent it on ski equipment, shoes, and other luxury items. Wow, he's a monster. Like, not only did he take money from his wife on the basis of giving it to his father, his sick father, he like did that, didn't give the money to his ailing father and used it on himself. That's wild.

Like, you do that to your own blood? Yeah. What the fuck? Wow. So by the fall of 2014, his debt and like crazy spending was starting to spill over into his family life. And Vicki was starting to have to bear the brunt of like different harassment from a ton of different local actors.

Yeah, of course. On one occasion, he was away and a bailiff from a payday loan company that he owed money to showed up at their front door. She is pregnant by herself and a man is showing up at the door saying, your husband knows me money. Geez. Like, you don't put somebody in that position. No, no, no.

No, no, no. You know, the mother of your children. So once the guy left, she texted a meal, and all he had to say was, why are you worried they can't do anything? Oh my God. It's like, she doesn't know that. She doesn't even know who this person is. Yeah, she doesn't know what this situation is.

You're spending money behind her back for all she knows, this could be like a random Joe Schmo that you all money chose dangerous. Exactly. But she had no idea that he had, quote, taken out several high interest loans with several payday loan companies, borrowed money in friends from co-workers, and on three separate occasions, he transferred several thousand pounds from her savings account into his without her knowledge. Wow. Several thousand pounds.

Yeah, nothing shocks me about this guy right now. And when she confronted him about those transfers, he just told her that her account was hacked. Okay, I fucking hate this. Yeah, absolutely. So in retrospect, all of her fears and suspicions were very well placed. And in the winter of 2014, 2015, a meal started sending back messages back and forth with a woman named Stephanie Gollar. He met her on Tinder while married and on a solo ski trip in Austria in November of 2014. Wow. Just as he had done with all his previous relationships, he lied to this woman and told her that his marriage was over. And then when as far as to say that

the baby his wife was pregnant with at the time, wasn't his. It was. I can't. During the first six months of their actual relationship, like his extra marital affair that he's carrying out with this woman, they sent back in 432,000 text messages, constantly professing their love for one another. One text from him to her in 2015 read, to be with you, I would do anything. I will sacrifice and give up so much for you. From April, April onwards, I can do random and spontaneous. I love the very specific time. Like what?

From April onward, starting in April, I'm gonna be super spontaneous. So spontaneous that I've planned it. Yeah, absolutely. The most spontaneity. But whether she knew it, Stephanie knew it or not at the time, his promise to be more random and spontaneous

from April onward wasn't just like a weird pledge of his love to her. It was the objective of his entire murderous plot that he had already set in motion. Sometime in the winter of 2014, he started investing in Vicki's life insurance. He added her to his policy with the army that he had, making sure that she had the most like the maximum possible coverage. And by 2015, he was under the impression that he would receive quote, a hundred and twenty thousand dollar life insurance payout on her death, on her death, excuse me. But ever aware of her husband's inability to control his spending, Vicki actually removed a meal from her will in the later months of 2014, and she changed it so that all of her assets would be left

to their children. That is me. But a meal had no idea. He was unaware that she had changed anything, and he had no reason to believe that he wasn't going to inherit her money. So his investment in her life insurance policy was just his way of profiting as much as possible in the event of her untimely death, which he was hard at work orchestrating. Oh, yeah, it's about to get gnarly. Wee. On the morning of March 30th, and this is 2015,

Vicki went into her kitchen just like she did any other day. She wanted to get some milk for one of the children because both of them were home. And she smelled gas. No. She immediately, like a normal human, was like, oh no, it must be a leak coming from the valve or from the stove, excuse me. A meal was away at the time.

Hmm, weird. Yeah. He had told Vicki that he was staying at the barracks for the night. Like I think he said he was gonna avoid the morning traffic and that's why he was doing that. Lier. And all reality, he was with his ex-wife, Carly. Yeah, of course he was.

He's now like maintaining a relationship with Carly and with Stephanie and with Vicki. Awesome. But actively trying to murder Vicki. Wow. And doesn't care that the kids are home. Wow. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

When Vicki opened the cabinet next to the stove to check the gas valve, she noticed smears of blood on it. So she texted a meal jokingly asking if he was trying to bump her off is how she put it. Oh my god. He literally in his response reprimanded her. Like the text was like more than a joke. Feeling guilty? I was just gonna say, yeah. We think you, though, Doth protest too much. I knew you were gonna say that. And of course her text might not have been serious, but his attempt to bump her off very much was,

my God, with the kids and he was gonna kill those two kids too. It wouldn't have just killed her. It would have killed the two children who were both home at the time. And he very much knew that and didn't give a shit. Didn't give a shit. Throw away the key, man.

And at the time of this attempted murder, because there's multiple, this one, he was juggling his marriage to Vicki, his relationship with Stephanie, his ongoing sexual relationship with Carly, visiting sex workers on the regular. And all at the same time is all of that. He was also arranging sexual encounters through a site called Fab Swingers. You're not ready for this. I'm no one. I never have them. Fab Swingers advertised events in parties like Donkey Dick's Swingers Party. Donkey Dick's Swingers Party. One more time for the people in the back. Donkey Dicks, Swinger's Party.

Have you been invited? I have no fucking words. Like, Donkey Dicks, Swinger's Party. Donkey Dicks, Swinger's Party. There's not just one been left in this town. Don't get this I don't get it So this is a thing I think his motive to kill Vicki from from the outside to some people could have looked like it was primarily financial, but I think at least some part of him, I don't know how big or small, saw his family life and responsibility as a burden and a hindrance to the lifestyle that he wanted.

And you know what you can do about that. You can not get married and not have kids. You can, you can, those are two very great choices for leading the life that you are liking to lead. And that you like went into willingly and knowingly enter into those institutions in cases like these. It's like a lot to get married. Like I never realized how many steps it is to get married. Like there are multiple points along the way where if you don't want to do, you can go,

you know what? Sorry, horrible timing, where if you don't want to do it, you can go, you know what? Sorry, horrible timing, but I don't want to do this. And you know what? It will always be better timing than when you're actually married. Yeah. I was just going to say really anything up until the point is pretty easy to just dissolve at that point. Like just what? You know what? I can't. Afterwards, it's a little hard, but it's like pull a buzzer. Leave a post it. Yeah, there you go. I'm sorry. I can't. Afterwards, it's a little hard, but it's like, pull a buzzer, leave a post it. Yeah, there you go. I'm sorry. I can't. I can't. Don't hate me. You know? That's all you gotta do.

The person will probably hate you, but. Absolutely, and all their friends will too, but it's okay, because you don't want to be part of their life anymore. You decided that. Exactly, and you can just head on down to Donkey Dick's Swinger's party. I'm, yeah. I'm beside myself about that.

I just need to know, like, I don't need to know like I don't need to know. I don't need to know. No, no, no, no, I don't need to know any details about the party. I just need to know like who sees that and says like hell yeah. A meal. Yeah. I'll do it. Anybody hands up. Anybody out there. I'm just searching the crowd. I am. Yeah, I'm without words. Before he left the house the night before this all happened, he went to the gas valve, opened it on up, went to Carly's, had relations, and then spent time texting Stephanie,

scrolling through listings on Fab Swingers, and then drove 45 minutes back to his barret, barracks, excuse me. And did he cut himself when he was, that's why there was one on. Okay. It gave, so he's doing, he, the most,

he leaves the, he's doing the absolute most. He does the deed, like unplugs the gas valve, or opens it up, whatever, drives to Carly's house. It does whatever he does with her leaves. Spend some time texting Stephanie wherever the fuck he was, scrolls through those listings on Fab Swingers wherever the fuck he is. I'm assuming he's like driving to different places when he does this.

And then had a 45 minute drive to his barracks. Any point in all of that, he could have said, hey, maybe I shouldn't kill my whole family. Yeah, like there was lots of that, he could have said, hey, maybe I shouldn't kill my whole family. Yeah, like there was lots of points where he could have been like, huh, never. Never a great idea. Never changed his mind. Like, wow, I'm going to kill my two kids along with my wife. Like two very young kids.

Yeah. Like one of them was a baby. And like basically both of them were. Wow. Yeah. Nope. So he was frustrated that the Gasly had failed to work as planned.

Wow. So he immediately got to work on a new plan to get rid of Vicki and this one was like totally gonna work. Yeah, and this one doesn't include the kids, so like. Yeah, and you know, good guy. It's fine. Yeah, he's really, he's leveling up. Oh, but they'd be there when it happens.

Oh, good. Oh, my God. On the afternoon of the 30th, he's really he's leveling up. Oh, but they they'd be there when it happens. Oh good. Yeah. Oh my God on the afternoon of the 30th He texted his wife and he said would you like to go skydiving next week? It's like a treat for me to use since you've just had the baby and you know I know you're kind of down lately because like I suck and I just want to cheer you on the workers Yeah, cuz I'm on fab swingers Jesus I truly true. You know,ers. Jesus. I truly truly. You know, he needs Jesus.

I don't know if he needs something. I don't recommend Jesus for many people. But I recommend it for him. Jesus for a meal. I don't know. 100% he's like, yeah, let me just give you a little treat. So Vicki, I hate him. Who loves skydiving.

Yeah. Who is like looking for any reason to rekindle the flame with her husband. Of course. And hearing like, I want to give you a treat. Like you've done so much. Like I'm so proud of you. You know, I mean, like, that's like, that's what she needs. That's what she's craving right now. That's what any woman married to. Any person is craving. And especially a piece of shit, because then you're just craving those moments where it's like Prince Jarming comes out.

You're living like moment to moment in those relationships. So of course, she was like, oh my gosh, I would love that. Within seconds of proposing the dive to Vicki, he was texting Stephanie, saying, have I told you lately, this is like, I'm gonna gag, that I'm massively in love with the most amazing woman in the world. I want my life with you to start now.

Ew. So he's like, I'm actively going to Tampa with my wife's parachute and send her out of a plane because I want my life to start with you now. Have you ever heard of divorce? That's what I'm like. If you asked her for a divorce, I'm sure she would be absolutely horribly devastated,

but her life would be so much better, and you could go do whatever you wanted. You don't pay child support for your other kids anyway. So that won't stop you. Like that's not gonna country you didn't have before. Don't worry, that's not gonna hold you down. It never has before, but it's like just fucking divorce. Seriously.

Like maybe change your tune and pay a little child support. I thought you'd do it, but. But I don't see you doing that. So like, I'm expecting the least from you. The bare mini mom. So in the morning of April 5th, 2015, Emil and Vicki him knowing full well what he's gonna do, packed the children into the car

and drove a short five minutes to a nearby airfield. It's the Nether Avon, I wanna say. It was like a local landing strip and it was actually an army training jump site operated by the Army Parachute Association. Wow. But it was open to the public on the weekends. I'm like, you're taking this woman

to like an army place to murder her? Your place of work. Literally. He was so kind to have taken the liberty of reserving an army parachute for his wife. Oh wow. On the previous afternoon, he even went as far as storing it away in one of the lockers and that hanger for her. And when they arrived, he was like, baby, sweetie, pie love bug, let me go fetch the shoot for you. Yeah, I don't want you touching it.

I want to help you. You can't touch it at all. Don't come near that suit. That shoot. Don't even touch it until you're up in the plane. Don can't touch it at all. Don't come near that suit. That suit. Don't even touch it until you're up in the plane. Don't look too closely at it. Don't do that either. So he goes to fetch it. And on the way back, he stops at the bathroom with his baby, saying the older of the two needed to go to the bathroom. So he takes that baby to the bathroom and takes the shoot with him. Vicki would later tell the police that he was in that bathroom for about 10 minutes.

Under normal circumstances, there was nobody on planet Earth that she would have accepted a parachute pack from, that didn't even belong to her in the first place, or that she hadn't packed herself. But it's her husband. Yeah. And things have been going well with him, especially that day, and she didn't want to ruin anything, so she accepted the shoot he offered with his comment. No one thinks their husband is gonna murder them,

especially in front of their kids. No, like the other things. No one thinks that, like, wow, that might be a possibility. Like you're all gonna stand on the ground and your hope is that she comes crashing to the ground and dies. And your kids watch. And you do that in front of your kids.

Yep. What the fuck is wrong with you? And you think about it and you're like, was he like gassing himself up to have that like emotional spouse reaction when it happened? Probably. Like, he was gonna have to act surprised. Yeah.

And shocked and upset and disgusted and, mm-hmm. Like, there's so many layers to that. Yeah. And she does come crashing to the ground as we know from the beginning. So her kids did see her crash to the ground. Like traumatized no matter what. Yeah, like luckily one of them was like a baby, baby,

but it's like like what the fuck? What is like dude are you kidding me? And you can sit there and watch a woman that you procreated with twice and like made vows to fall to her death from an airplane? What the fuck? It's weird to me that some people don't take vows. The kids or vows, like seriously.

Yeah, like, I don't even, like not even, it's just like, like they don't look at that. And maybe that's me just being a dick and like always thinking that I'm right. But I'm like, that's being a dick at all. It's weird that like, I'll look at somebody who's like a shit parent. And I'm like, it's weird that you don't look

at your kids the way that I look at mine. Yeah. It's like that's weird to me. Your kids are obviously not even my kids and I would die for them. Like literally I would die for them. Yeah. And I can't imagine how it should be.

And to feel that feeling about like my nieces and I think I've said this like a million times, I can't imagine how I will feel when I have my own. Oh, it ruins you. Yeah. destroys you. Changes you fun, or it should. Yeah. Destroyes you. Changes you fun or it should. Yeah. If your kids don't ruin you the second they come out of your body or the second

that you hold them in your arms, the second that you lay your eyes upon them, like, here's the thing. And people go through postpartum depression. Of course. So if there's a moment where you're like, wow, I don't feel that connection. That's a different story. That is very understandable. But I'm saying like, if there doesn't come a point where you're child, like people go through that and I can't imagine, and like I've known people

who've gone through that. Of course. So that is like a very like, you know, that's not what we're talking about here. Yeah, I just want to be clear that that's not, I'm not like if you don't feel that right away to your shit parent. No, of course not.

But if you are like out of that and you are like with your kids and you wouldn't die for them, some's wrong. Yeah. Some's wrong there. And even like your spouse. Like that shit. That's the thing. I would die for true.

Yeah. I would lay down on train tracks if a train was coming in, kick that motherfucker out of that. Oh yeah, in the second somebody even says something. Oh my god. Slightly off, off like the nice radar, a boat or two John. Are you and I have the exact same reaction?

It is litter, it's like, it's welcome to the Thunderdome. Because I'm gonna fucking take you downtown. I Charlie Blanc. Like it is. I turn into a fucking tomato and I start clapping. Oh yeah. And I start yelling and I just, I don't even know who I am in that moment.

I'm a saw. That's what I'm just your saw. It's true. It's just like I turn a shade of purple that doesn't exist in nature. Oh, I've seen it. And I just quietly see. Mm-hmm.

And then the words I will fucking kill you will come out of my, like I will threaten your life. It'll come down to homicide with me. Honestly. And the same with my kid, like it is that it should be your feeling. And it's like, I understand marriage is end, obviously. And people fall out of love.

Mm-hmm. Divorce. Even just like hearing like fall out of love. I know it's hardly a setting. But divorce. Right. Separate. Seriously.

Get away from each other. At this point, they don't even married like four years. And if that is not a possibility, like, you know, and again, I feel like we have to cover all the bases because we will get yelled at by people first. We're gonna get yelled at even when we come in the human beings and just trying to have an opinion, but here I am trying to cover all our bases.

Yes. It's like I understand their situations where you can't divorce right away or what away. Totally. I get it. I understand. We're saying, we're saying, in this situation,

yes, divorce could have happened. We're saying, on his end, like, they do is very much in love and like, but he could have initiated a divorce. At any time, because he clearly was not happy. Yeah. So instead of, basically our messages,

instead of trying to murder your wife, explore the divorce route. Yeah, and I think that's a pretty universally accepted idea. I don't think anyone can help you. I don't think that's what I'm sure about that, but I'm sure somebody will. Some of them.

We'll check the email tomorrow. Talk to you soon. You know what we mean, guys. Don't worry. Just don't kill your fucking spouse and your kids. Don't do it. That's how we mind. I think that's like a good,

I feel good about that opinion. Me too. Don't kill your wife and kids. I would kill your husband and kids. Do they say, rest your laurels on that? Sure. I would rest my laurels on there. Is it laurels or is it morals?

No, it's laurels. Okay. But yeah, don't, don't murder your family. By the way, shout out to Laurel if you're listening. That's my like cousin-in-laws. Who is GF? Who's Dangan? I don't know. So thinkin' this from his day, it's not either.

No, our phones are, I think, is it the, we got a new printer. I think the printer is like, but it sounds like a, it sounds like an eye message. I feel like the printer has a lot to say. Is someone texting the printer, maybe? I don't know. I don't know what printers work now.

Do you see this dumb face I'm making when I laugh? I can't open my mouth all the way. And I'm just gonna judge them then to work them. My god, I was the longest dentist appointment of my life. Another fucking route, or like, detour, don't not go to the dentist for 10 years.

Yes, don't do that. And the only reason I did it is because I had a shitty life and didn't have health insurance for a long time. But now I do. And I'm sure it's going to the dentist. And I went to the dentist and they were like, girl, and I was like, I know, just shoot me up with the nobi. They were like, girl, and I was like, yeah, and I looked at him. And he looked at me. And I looked at him and he looked at me and then shot me in the face with novi came. But yeah, the moral of this whole thing don't kill your wife. Yeah. Just don't do that. Yeah. So back to the story. Vicki is getting ready to go up to fly in an airplane, unknowingly, both of her shoots have been

far. I'm horrified. There's like a regular and only a safety. There's a regular and like a backup, both tampered with. Wow. At this point in her life, Vicki Siliet was brought like in my opinion the most accomplished guy diver in the world. Yeah, she wasn't, but like I think she's the best

story ever. She had jumped over, or no, excuse me, she had jumped 2,654 times before this. 2,654 jumps this woman had to come in. She was the most experienced in the world in my opinion. Holy shit, me as well. I didn't even know you could do it that many times. Before she got pregnant with her second child,

she was an accelerated free fall instructor and she also received extensive training on how to handle out of control situations in the air and correct them in the event that an inexperienced jumper had gotten out of position. Oh, thank goodness for that. I bet he didn't see that one coming. Sure didn't. In case it's here. He doesn't even know shit about his wife. You piece of shit.

No, he literally doesn't. He doesn't even take the time to learn. And also, I'm like, in the case that an inexperienced jumper or a homicidal husband got out of control. Exactly. This jump actually was going to be her first jump in over a year. But despite her passion for the sport, Vicki actually wasn't looking forward to this jump. It was almost like she had a gut feeling.

Looking back, she said, quote, I was quite tired and emotional by that point. I just put my goggles and my helmet on and put my head down. Like I swear, it was almost like she knew. Yeah. The weather really wasn't great. It wasn't great for jumping that day either. It was overcast and there were heavy low clouds

in the air, which is just like not ideal. So she and the 11 others scheduled to jump spent most of the morning actually waiting around the airfield, hoping that things would clear up and kind of just waiting for an opportunity. And around four o'clock in the afternoon, the group was sick and tired of waiting. So they decided to go on what's called a hop and pop,

which I love, what? A hop and pop is just a low altitude jump where they would open their parachutes within like seconds of jumping out, or it'd get, yeah, jumping out at 4,000 feet. Oh, okay. So someone was on her side this day because had she actually gone up

and done like a regular jump, she probably wouldn't have survived. It was up and done like a regular jump, she probably wouldn't have survived. It was because it was like a low altitude. Now, interestingly, Vicki was the last one, actually, of 12 people that made the jump. And almost immediately, she recognized there was something wrong in the air because she pulled, she's her. She's her. She pulled the cord to release the main shoot. And she said later to the court. It just didn't feel like right the lines were twisted. I was spinning Vicki had fallen into what jumper sometimes called going down the plug hole Because what happens is it's literally a spiral motion like water going down a drain

Oh my god because her parachute wasn't opening up. That was how the air was worked When she pulled the second cord to release the reserve shoot, which is like the backup shoot, it also failed to deploy as expected and only opened partially. What the fuck? So the last thing she remembers is fighting to get control of the shoot and then she said,

everything went black. Oh. Although it didn't fully deploy, the partial deployment of the reserve shoot created enough drag to slow her speed. I was just gonna ask that. From about 100 miles an hour to 30 miles an hour. Still.

Which also gave her enough control to navigate herself away from the pavement. And so she ended up crashing in a grassy field instead. Oh my god. So like, many different variables were at work here to save her life. And then God, it was her. Absolutely.

Because she knew exactly what to do. She's fucking smart as a goddamn whip. Bet you didn't see that come in a meal. Yeah, because you're not smart as a way. Your wife is way fucking smarter than you. Totally. And you underestimated her. You son of a bitch.

And she was able to turn it around on your dumb ass. Yeah. So good on making. She watched that. He watched her crash to the ground and probably immediately assumed that she was dead. Probably had no idea that she had taken control. I'm just had some broken bones. Yeah, she took control in emotional distress. Yeah, hit the ground at 30 miles an hour. That's a car crash. Literally. Yeah. Yeah. So when they reached the spot where she landed, everybody, like I just said, expected to find her dead, expected to find her broken body in a heap on the ground. And they were stunned to find Mama Vicki alive.

But again, very badly injured. Like I said, cuts an abrasion all over her body, broken ribs, broken collarbone, a broken leg, and serious, serious spinal injuries. My God. Once paramedics were able to stabilize her, she had to be taken by helicopter to Southampton General Hospital

for emergency treatment. And she would end up staying in the hospital for over a month. Wow. Now, she was still in intensive care when a meal showed up to see her finally. Fuck you. Not for a visit.

He didn't wanna visit her. He just had some insurance paperwork that he needed to have signed by her doctor. Are you fucking kidding me? According to Vicki, Amille was quote, counting up my fractures. You get a thousand dollars for each break and he was totting them up.

Can you imagine how lonely this would feel? No. Like you're going through this kind of trauma and the person that's supposed to be there. How much money can I make off those broken body over there? Is not there, not there to see you, not there to comfort you, not there to tell you it's gonna be okay, but there to find out how much money they can make

from your choice. Yeah, it shows up for financial Jesus. I can't. I can't. I can't imagine the loneliness would be, you would feel like a loan. Yeah, completely. And at the same time, this person is now in charge of taking care of your kids.

Yeah, I'd be terrified. And he's an absentee father. Yeah, I mean, she has no idea at this point that he's tampered with her fucking parachute and that he's an attempted murderer. He's a piece of shit to begin with. But I'm sure she was nervous. And it's like, he has all these,

he's coming looking to see how much money he can make off of her and she's like, oh my God, like he's gonna spend that all. Yeah, she literally had taken this man out of her will because she was worried about his spending. My God, it's crazy. And whenever he actually did visit during that, like over a month long stretch that she was in the hospital,

all of his visits were short-lived. And the entire time he would spend next to her hospital bed where she was recovering from a myriad of injuries. He's texting. He was texting Stephanie. He's texting Stephanie. He's texting Stephanie. Fucking hate him. But now let's talk about where the suspicions come in. So the chief instructor at the Nether-Abon where this accident happened, his name was Mark Bayada, I believe. He was one of the first people actually to run over to Vicki when she landed. And right away, he noticed that something was not right

with her shoe. It just didn't look right to him. He said, all the lines on one side of the parachute were not it up. He said this to the Guardian. And he said, he noticed this when they, or excuse me, he said, when they lifted Vicki onto the stretcher, I looked at the equipment properly

and I could see the two ends of the risers on the reserve parachute were unattached. Huh. So he's looking at the regular parachute and being like, that's not right. And then he looks at the reserve parachute, the backup. And he's like, that's also not right. That's definitely not right.

He was like, I just feel like something's off here. Yeah. So after the chaos had subsided at the airfield, he was actually able to make a closer inspection of the shoot. And he found that the soft links, which are also referred to as slinks, they connect the harness to the parachute. Those had been unattached.

There were no slinks. He looked for the loose stitching that would indicate pressure or stress damage, like anything that had happened in the air. Any residues, quote, burn marks, anything to suggest that the slinks had been there and it had somehow come away, but he found nothing. Wow. They just had been removed. They were just gone.

Mm-hmm. And he couldn't find any evidence that the shoot had failed due to a mechanical problem. He said, wow. And it wasn't only that he couldn't find evidence of the malfunction that made him just feel weird. It was that the main and the reserve shoots had failed to deploy. Yeah.

According to the, which I was like, wow, that's crazy that there is one of these. I was literally just going to ask, like, how many times has that happened that the reserve doesn't open? Well, I will let you know. I'm really glad that you're about to say this because I was literally just going to ask, like, how many times has that happened that the reserve doesn't open? Well, I will let you know. I'm really glad that you're about to say this because I was about to ask it.

I was like, I really want to know. I got you, girl. You got me. There is a British Parachute Society, Hell yeah, there is. Also known as the BPA, but not like the BPA. Not like the BPA. No, that's bad.

That's the bad plastic, right? BPA free. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I always look for that. According to the BPA, there were roughly 2.3 million jumps in the 10 years before that Easter of 2015. Yes, it was Easter. Wow. And of those 2.3 million, only 2,900 required the use of the reserve shoot. Okay. And the BPA reports that according to their records,

there is only one recorded instance of both shoots failing to deploy. Wow. One. Out of two, was it two point three million? Two point three million. And it was intentional. In July of 2003, a 20 year old army cadets,

I think it's Stephen Hitler, Hilder, sorry, died when his shoot failed to open during a jump from 13,000 feet. Oh my. Initially investigators thought that this was murder. They were like, what the fuck? It appeared that somebody had cut the risers on his reserve shoot.

But after their investigation, they actually realized that this was intentional. He had done it himself. That's really sad. Really sad. So given that his shoot malfunction was the result of tampering, the odds of Vicky's double shoot failure, having been an accident, were slim to none. Astronomically, yeah.

Especially considering it had never happened before. Yeah, literally never in history. Wow. So Viata considered the implications of his discoveries and he ended up calling the police just to say, like, this is what I found. Just so you know. Yeah.

So to detective inspector Paul Franklin of the Wiltshire police, the accident actually appeared to be just that. An accident. He was like, I don't see anything wrong here. Really? But as lead detective on the case, he he didn't initially see anything criminal and what had happened. And he found nothing concerning about the call that he got from Lyata. And the

interest of due diligence though, thankfully, I was going to say he did send Vicki shoot to the BPA for analysis. He said he expected quote, they'd come back with some mechanical reason, very sad, very sorry, but nothing wrong here. Oh, okay. But then he received another call. And this time, the call was coming from one of Vicki's close friends, who had a suspicion that Vicki's fall was not an accident and said, you might want to look into her husband. Dude, whenever that happens, you go. It happened. Yeah. There's no way a friend is saying, I think, her husband. Dude, whenever that happens, you go up and there's no way a friend is saying I think her husband tampered with her shoe. Like, things are so bad that I think he literally sent her up in an airplane to murder her all the way down. And I'm going to call actual

law enforcement and tell them that. Like, that is, that's pretty serious when someone does that. Not a lot of people are going to do that without good faith. So the friend reported that Vicki and Emile's relationship was toxic and that he was emotionally abusive, but they also did not want to go on record, which I do not blame them. Yeah, I don't blame them. Like, he's a murderous piece of shit.

Yeah. Now, once they reviewed Vicki's shoot, the BPA called to let Franklin and his team know that they're actually appeared to be no mechanical reason for the failure, meaning that they were certain the double shoot failure was the result of sabotage. Damn. But unfortunately, there were no fingerprints or DNA found on the pack.

So I don't know if he used gloves or like what happened there. Huh. Interesting, right? It makes sense. Maybe he did use gloves. Mm-hmm. Now, the problem for Franklin, that lean investigator there, is that he was starting to believe her fall wasn't an accident.

He's like, okay, like, now I'm hearing this from the BPA, and this from the guy that works there. Her friend's calling me. Something is ding. What is that? It's definitely eye message. But it's none of our eye messages.

It's, I'm sorry guys. The eye message is coming from inside the head. It is, I feel like it's a stranger call. It's, I'm sorry guys. The eye message is coming from inside the head. It is, I feel like it's a stranger calls. It's stranger text. It's the Mac calls. I don't know, the Mac is calling and I don't know what to do. Yeah, I lost my place. I apologize for the thing.

I apologize for it too. But yeah, so he's like, I don't think this is an accident because everybody is calling me telling me it's not, including the British Paris Paris shoot society Yeah, that is so hard to say it is hard British that it's the ship. Yeah, that's it It's the British parachute society. Fuck off. You have to take a minute of say it, but do do do do do do do do but He needed more than the BPA report and rumors on domestic issues

to consider her husband a viable suspect. Now, fortunately, while he may not have left any fingerprints or DNA on the shoe, and meal did leave evidence of a motive and potential wrongdoing everywhere, literally everywhere, everywhere. There were bank statements and other financial paperwork that completely spelled out his money troubles,

loudly, clearly, all of the abovely. He barely tried to hide his extramarital relationships with Stephanie and his ex-wife between the debt, the affairs, and the other cruel and suspicious behavior. Franklin had enough evidence to arrest a meal on suspicion of murder. Hell yeah.

So on April 28th, 2015, Franklin directed Detective Constable Maddie Hanna to arrest a meal, which she did that morning at his office in the barracks. Yes. According to her, she arrested a meal without incident. And when she told him she was arresting him on suspicion of attempted murder, he made no objection. She said he did not react at all. Come on. So they bring him down to the station.

They interview him for more than six hours. And again, according to Detective Constable, is that what it is? Yeah. He was very, very self-assured. Of course he is. Yeah, a little fucker. He readily admitted to the affairs,

the mounting debt, the payday loans, and even told the detectives that he had gone to the bathroom prior to Vicki's jump. He took her shoot with him. He was, and this is Detective Hanna, she said he was very clear. He covered all the points he knew we were going to discover from looking at his phone.

He assumed we were going to accept what he was saying and that he'd never see us again. Yeah, that's not the case. Of course he did. When the interview came to an end, she asked Amila if he had anything else he wanted to say. And rather than take that moment to be like, I didn't do this, I'm innocent.

I can't believe you would think I did this. I love my wife. I hope she's okay. She's the mother of my children. Like express any kind of concern for her. Yeah, you wanna know what he said? What did he say? He said, and I quote, the worst part about today

was that you arrested me in front of my subordinates. Whoa. The yikes. The worst part of the day that you got arrested for the attempted murder of your wife and the mother of your children was that it happened in front of people that you consider yourself above. Yikes. That's a wolf moment.

That's a big wolf. That's a Yidagi. Oh, a meal. To quote Hannah Montana. Eek. So to Franklin and his team, a meal, quote, displayed all the traits of a psychopath, sociopath, narcissist, extreme selfishness. And they said, he only cares about of a psychopath, sociopath, narcissist, extreme selfishness. And they said, he only cares about himself.

Yeah, I could have told you that from over here. Yeah, in interviews, he was said to be domineering. He attempted to control the conversation. He wanted to steer detectives away from any subject. He didn't want to talk about. So the detectives had to be strategic here. And they used those negative personality and character traits actually against him in the hopes that he would trip up and somehow reveal his guilt in some way. And eventually his arrogance and narcissism was his down. Yes. He was so sure that he was smarter

than these investigators that he openly acknowledged means and motive and essentially did everything short of admitting to the attempted murder of his wife. What a fucking idiot. Now at home, Victoria, Vicki, was basically left alone to recover from her injuries. She was stuck in a body brace. She was relying on others for help with her kids.

And since she wasn't really able to be mobile at all, she was essentially isolated. It only led to more feelings of depression, anxiety, and confusion about what the fuck had happened here. In a Facebook post that May of that same year, she wrote, where do I go from here? I have no idea where to start. It's 100 times harder as I am housebound

and cannot care independently for my children due to my current injuries. I've had a lot of support from the police, medical chain, social work, but I really need friends too. Oh, I'm like where were her friends? I know I'm gonna be your friend, Vicki. I'll be your friend.

Jesus. Now, as Detective Inspector, Hanna, was interviewing a meal at the station, Mark Lewis, another detective, went to the silly A home to inform Vicki that her husband had been arrested in connection with her attempted murder. Damn. Which I wonder if the whole time she was kind of sitting there being like, I wonder that.

I like, yeah. You know? But despite everything that had happened, she couldn't, she wouldn't accept that Amila had tried to kill her. She wanted nothing more for them to return home, but the conditions of his bail prevented him from returning to the home or going anywhere near his wife, which then only added to the feelings

of isolation and anxiety for her. So not wanting to upset Vicki any further, Detective Lewis didn't press the matter, and he was like, you know what, I'm gonna come back another time. Yeah. So when Lewis and Franklin returned, it was a few days later. And they really just had to lay out their theory for Vicki in full detail, hoping that she would take it, like for what it was.

She still seemed reluctant to accept what they were saying. And she felt like the police were keeping a meal from her for reasons other than her safety. But her attitude changed when Franklin told her about the affairs that her husband had been having for years. He said, I thought that would be enough for her to see that there was something seriously wrong and she needed to trust the police and accept that he couldn't come home. He later said that to the guardian, Detective Franklin,

and his plan worked. She was triggered, she was pissed, like just filled with rage, with the affairs. And she ended up telling Franklin and Lewis about the gas leak that she had discovered about a week before the jump. And she actually showed them the blood on the valve. When technicians examined the valve, they determined that not only was the blood a match for a meal, but the force had only been used to loosen the valve, not tighten it. So immediately they knew what had happened. And then Vicki also told them about it, the 10 minute gap between when a meal picked

up the shoot and when he returned it to her at the airfield. Yep. During the time that he had gone to the bathroom with their child. Jesus. So over the course of the next year, investigators collected evidence of his involvement in Vicki's attempted murder. There were more than 32,000 text messages, like I said, between him and Stephanie, in the five months between having met them having met and Vicki's jump.

Jesus. Five months, that many texts. Wow. And finally, in September of 2016, Ian Harris of the Crown Prosecution Service of Lessix announced, quote, we have decided that there's sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of a conviction. And an arrangement date was set for October 14th. Following his arrangement during which he did ple guilty, or Jesus Christ, he pleaded

not guilty, not guilty to two counts of attempted murder. He appeared in court a second time for the judge to set a date for his trial. And despite the seriousness of all the charges against him, this boggles my mind, and it's about to boggle yours. The judge in this case approved a three day trip to Paris so that a meal could participate in a rowing contest. Is everyone all right? All the other conditions of his bail were upheld and he was required to have no contact with Vicki, but they let him go to a rowing contest. Sometimes I just can't even.

Me as well. Yeah, this is one of those when I just ceased to can. But they did set the trial. They were like, you do have to come back. The trial was still, yeah. Like hook and lock. Yeah. What the fuck?

Hope you win. This is, that's, you know what that is? That is male privilege. Yeah, it is. If I ever said it is. But anyway, they set the trial for June 7th. Oh, the day before my birthday on 2017. Whenever that happens to me, I'm like, what was I doing, man?

What was they doing? Well, this trial was happening. Yeah, like, I was like, what? I was alive at that point. I was old. You were very alive. Yeah, I was like super alive. Maybe most alive.

Maybe I was like, not feeling. Maybe you weren't. Yeah, not slipping. Probably not. Anyways, and his opening statement to the jury in the trial, the prosecutor Michael Bose laid out the theory and evidence against a meal in the court and he told them, those at the scene immediately realized

that something was seriously wrong with her reserve parachute. Two vital pieces of equipment, which fast in the parachute harness, were missing. Their absence inevitably meant that the reserve parachute would fail and send her spinning to the ground. The police investigation was widened to include the circumstances of a gas leak at a meal-silly-ay and Victoria's Silly-ay's home a few days before, and it was discovered

that a meal had deliberately caused a gas leak at the house just before he left the house to stay elsewhere. The prosecution's case is that Emil Silje attempted to kill her by means of a deliberate gas leak, and with an hours of that failed attempt, attempt to excuse me. Despite his complete disinterest by then to Victoria, he suggested that she might like to go parachuting the following weekend. This prosecution's case is that he had by now decided to get rid of her permanently. Wow. Like imagine sitting in court and hearing that. I can't even bow them that. So both told the jury, a meal cared little for his wife treated

her with callousness and contempt. And as evidence, he provided the countless examples that there were of infidelity, including his membership to fab swingers. Donky, donky, donky, donky. They pointed to his ongoing sexual relationship with his ex-wife and the, again, thousands and thousands and thousands of texts between him and Stephanie. Piece of shit.

The text actually really spoke to his character, or like what I should say is lack thereof. While his wife was stuck in the hospital bed recovering from all of those traumatic injuries, Amile was just carrying all with Stephanie like a teenager and some kind of puppy love telling her, I massively in love with the most amazing woman in the world. He says that all the time. I was just going to say I've heard this before. This is a different text. Wow. My girlfriend is awesome. My girlfriend. Again, my Wow. My girlfriend is awesome. My girlfriend.

Again, fuck to my dude. My girlfriend is an amazing person. I feel so like I'm gagging. This is so crazy. Even if Drew sent me this, I'd be like, are you fucking all right? I'd be like, ew. Why are we talking about weird third person narrative here? I leave this. My girlfriend is an amazing person and I feel so lucky to have her. Sorry, you're gonna have to hear a lot of things about my girlfriend from now on. Oh. And I dry he's like, fuck off. You're like, I don't even know how old he is,

but you're probably like a 34 year old man grow up. It's like just gross. No. Just be like, don't be like anything. You're married. Stop you married. Just stalk her. I just like, I was like, right.

So there were also her, particularly, I was going to say partially, particularly horrific texts regarding his own son, who Emil had always, like I said, told Stephanie was not his. He claimed he felt no emotions when he held the baby for the first time. Wow. Interesting that you had said that earlier. Weird. That is interesting. Like, he looked at his baby, it is his baby,

and felt no emotion. He's a psychopath. Yeah, he is. Like literally. So you're not even armchair diagnosed. No, I'm not. I'm not armchair. You're diagnosing.

Don't yell at me about that. He's a sociopath. He's a psychopath. He's a psychopath. A narcissist. Diagnosed. All of the above. Yeah.

Now let me. What? I said diagnosed, not by me. For some reason above. Yeah. Now among me, what? I said, diagnosed, not by me. For some reason, I thought you said, bad bunny. And I was like, you know, that is. That's what that's about. That's what I was like, that's like, that's like, whoa, just written by me. I was like, what?

Like why you say that? I was like, I love, but like, what? What? Now among the witnesses testifying for the prosecution was our pal Mark Biotta, there he is. Who testified to Vicki's expertise as a skydiver. He told the jury she was absolutely, this is quote, absolutely brilliant. Never had any issues at all with what she was taught. Top notch. Hell yeah, she was. Top notch.

Top notch. I liked that. Yeah. He also gave a thorough explanation of how a parachute is assembled and noted the importance of those slinks and relation to the reserve shoot. And he told the jury how he found her shoot appeared to have been sabotaged. The evidence against Emil was strong, but at the same time it was entirely circumstantial. Yeah, because they don't have prints. They did find the blood on the valve linking him to the first attempt on Vicki's life, but that was literally the only physical evidence in this case. And it wasn't necessarily damning. I think in my mind it would have been damning, but I can see how in somebody else's it wouldn't be.

It's his house. He lives there. He could have turned that before. But then it's also like, but they have the proof that it wasn't that it wasn't tight and it was loosened. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but I don't know. But instead, Bowers focused on the time the meal spent with the shoot, noting quote,

a meal silly, I had the opportunity to tamper with the parachute and he had the expert's he's to do so, having trained as a packer and having undergone training on the checking of parachute reserve equipment. Oh, well, there you go. Remember, he was in the offer. Yeah. There is no evidence that anyone at Nether-Avon or anywhere else wished her any harm

with the exception of a meal, silly A, and he had already tried to kill her a few days before with a deliberate gasoline. Yep. So a meal's defense against the charges was surprisingly simple. I honestly feel like all the cases that I'm covering lately, like the purpose attorney's just like,

yeah, I don't know, he didn't do it. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I say he didn't do it. He didn't do it. Yeah. Me, I say he didn't do it. Yeah, I hope that works. Yeah.

Yeah, the prosecution had spent all of their time, a considerable amount of time building a portrait of a meal as a narcissistic sociopath whose behavior had been, they said, learnt rather than being a display of genuine emotions. They also were able to prove that he had nothing but contempt for his wife. But for their part, Emil's defense team didn't really bother trying to convince the jury otherwise.

They were like, yeah, he probably hates his wife. They were like, for sure, he's the fucking worst. So, I'm generally, you guys watching this, he sucks. Yeah, he sucks. Yeah, he sucks. But those character traits don't make him a killer. That was what they were like. They were like, he might suck,

but it doesn't mean he's a murderer. Yeah. Like I could have presented this. I mean, I guess, yeah. Like the thing is, you can't really argue with you. Like, yeah, are you right? Yeah. Some people just suck at it.

Some people murder someone, but like, do you you again, right? Yeah. Some people just saw, I guess, some people heard or some people, some people like do stuff. I think this guy did, so. Yeah. But at the same time, there were no friends or family in the courtroom to support a meal, and the defense called no character witnesses

to testify in his defense. Cause there was no one on this fucking earth that was gonna sit in that box and go, he's not a shit bag of a human being. But like, you're not even gonna try? No. No. No.

If I was them, I wouldn't even try either. I'd be like, we can't find one. We couldn't scrape someone off the bottom of our fucking shoe. That would say he's a good guy. Literally. And that tells you everything. Yeah. If no one will come to bat for this guy and they weren't even willing to try to find

someone, they weren't even willing to do something illegal and like pay someone to pretend. No, they were just like, no. They were like, no, no one will believe that somebody thinks you're less than a ship-backed. Not even L ones can win this case for you. No. Now, as we all know, it is always risky

for a defendant to testify in their own defense. What? It's always risky. Is it? Yeah. It's always risky. Is it? Yeah. It's especially risky if your name is a meal. I was just gonna say if you're a meal. But he did take the stand in his own defense.

Yes. Of course he did. I don't think he did himself any good. I know. It's gonna be shocking to me here. I'm shocked. As a way to explain his multiple affairs to the jury, he just said, I'm a very sexual man.

Ew. I don't very sexual man. You. I don't give a fuck. I don't give a mother fuck. If you're a very, okay, if you're a very, you have sex with your wife. If you're a very sexual man, also, don't get married. Go fuck everything that walks. Like, go ahead.

He also went on to say, this is so gross, that he needed sex and female companionship. No, you don't. Well, you don't even like women, even if you do need sex and female companionship, I think that's why you married a woman. Yeah, it seems to me that that's like part of what marriage is. Yeah. One might say like that whole being able to have sex with that person and also have companionship with them. It's like, it's kind of the whole package. The whole package deal there. Like that's, it's kind of the whole package. The whole package deal there. Like that's the gift.

That's the whole end game. Yeah, but that's the punchline of marriage. As you get that at the end. The punchline of marriage is fukin' and hangin'. And hangin' sweet, sweet love and sweet, sweet hang. So that's what it is. Yeah, yeah, it's a TV. You could've had it all.

You could've had it all. And TV, did you say and TV me and you love TV And and your program and you program everybody needs your program. Yeah I'm so funny. You're so funny. What time is it? It's it's nearing the night time. It's the evening hours It's nearing the night time. It's the evening hours. But he did say, and this is just so mean, that it was at a level that went far beyond what Vicki was able to provide him.

It goes far beyond what anything on this planet could provide you. Like you are unable to be satisfied. You are insatiable. My next note was, and might I add any singular female or human in general? Like bitch, don't put it on Vicki. Like fuck you.

Log onto fab swingers and live life. Don't get married, don't have kids. Because you're gonna be horrible to them. Like, you're on a yacht. One of those fancy at use, go into more debt and buy one of those fancy as sex dolls. And just fuck that thing for the rest of your life. I have to go.

It'll never, you can do it forever. But that's not companionship. Unless you got one of those like robot ones. Yeah, the ones that talk to you, I think. Oh, they talk. I don't know. I think you're like, I have no fucking idea. But I'm assuming that we, like, I'm assuming one of those exists.

I don't need to think about it. That will at least like blink at you. I don't even like that at all. Don't blink at me. Don't blink at me. Don't blink at me. Don't blink at me. I don't want to be perceived.

Please don't. But anyways, on the stand, he was like eerily calm. And despite the prosecution really tried. I'm like, like, like, they were trying really hard to provoke any kind of anger from him, but they just couldn't. And according to Philip, ah, fuck, hold on.

I had to squint Philadelphia Wilson, an expert in psychopathy who was in the courtroom that day, a meal displayed all the signs of a psychopath, she said. His interest in risky sports, his complete lack of remorse, his excessive spending, his womanizing, and his ability, inability to empathize are all on the prescribed list of psychopathic behavior. If the gas didn't work and the parachute didn't work,

he would have had another go and another go until it was successful. Ooh, yeah, that's terrifying. That is terrifying. Now I'm like over here going over the list. I'm like, yeah. That's terrifying. That is terrifying. Now I'm like over here going over the list. I'm like, all right, I don't like risky sports. I don't spend much money. Oh, you're the farthest from a psychopath.

Oh, my God, thank you. Yeah, just here at the empathy and all that. Yeah, do you, the farthest from it? Well, you're not involved in risky sports. You don't spend a lot of money. You're not a womanizer or a manizer. I'm not a womanizer. I think you're a psychopath.

Thank you. I appreciate that. Sometimes I think you're'm not a womanizer. I think you're a psychopath. Thank you. I appreciate that. Sometimes I think you're like something else. Yeah. I think you're a psychopath. I think a lot of people think that. But like, I love that about you. Yeah. I know one of my charms. Yeah. I don't want you to be like, not something else.

You don't want me to be normal. No. What do you want me to be a normie? No way. I don't even think I'm normal. No way. I actually just got a sweatshirt that says, um, um, emotional. I love that for you.

That's perfect. Thanks. But unfortunately, I should get you one that says, uh, emotional, and we can wrap you together. I think we should. But unfortunately for the prosecution, when it came to building a case against a meal, their most important witness, our girl Vicki, she didn't seem interested in helping anymore. I think this was far too much for her. I was going to say the trauma involved in

this layer. It would be far too much for me and I think most other people. When she initially learned of his infidelity, like we said, she was angry and she gave the detectives what they needed in order to prosecute her husband. But by the time the trial came around, it was two years later. She had two years to sit there and question her decisions, because she's probably sitting there, a not psychopathic human being and being like, oh my God, this is the father of my children. I took vows to this man. How can I defy him like this? You're going to second guess everything.

And after two years, the anger subsides. Stifles. Like it starts, you know, going away a little bit. It's like the stages of grief. Yeah, you can't be as angry as you were in the initial moment. No, and she's a good person. She's probably like, she's taking care of her kids.

Exactly. Then that's probably all she wanted to do at that point. Yeah. So on the stand, she told the jury that she actually exaggerated some of what she had told detectives at the time I don't think she did I think she was just like I think this is the way out of this and he won't get convicted and Remember he was emotionally abusive. Yeah, she's probably scared absolutely

So she said that she said that it was more like five minutes and she told the jury I was probably quite generous about some of the timelines. And my first statement, I said he was away for a couple of minutes. And in the second, I said five minutes. It was probably somewhere in the middle. And then when they asked why she had exaggerated, she said, I made it sound worse than it was because I was humiliated.

I wanted him to suffer. But still, on the stand, she reassured the prosecution and the jury that despite her exaggerations at the time of her interview, quote, the majority of what I said about April 4th was truthful. Yeah, so she's like, I'm not lying about what happened. I'm not lying. She was like, I might have embellished any of like time frames, but I don't think she did. I think that was just like, I'm terrified of the man that I'm testifying again.

So let me cover my back. Make this a little better. So the jury was sequestered for deliberation on November 14, 2017. And in an interesting turn of events, it didn't take long before the judge in the case started hearing rumors about bullying and peer pressure occurring in the deliberation room. Two women on the jury, one of which was the four women. Four women. Oh, God.

Had to be discharged due to stress-related illnesses. Two of them. Jesus. And the judge actually lectured the jury that deliberations, quote, must remain within the proper bounds of discussion and not amount to improper pressure or bullying. He's like, you are adults. Yeah, please do the law.

Do your job. Just do. Do the law. Do the law, please. So the next day, the jury produced a note for the judge declaring they ununanimously agreed no such bullying had taken place. So the bullies were like, not, no bullying.

I was gonna say the bullies are like, absolutely not. I saw nothing of the sort. Yeah, and the people being bullied are like, yeah, there's been bullying. There's put a lot of bullying up in here. But they did say that they were ready to continue deliberations.

Drama. Damn. Now, regardless of their intent to carry on the deliberations, they failed to reach a verdict. What? And they were discharged by the justice on November 24th. Now pending a new trial date, the judge upheld Emil's bail conditions, saying, I'm going to continue your bail on precisely

the same conditions as before. As you will be aware, if you were to breach any of those conditions, you are liable to find yourself arrested and probably put into custody. Equally, if you were to fail to attend your retrial, then it is highly likely it will continue in your absence and your voice will not be heard. Damn.

So he was like, fuck around and find out or don't. Yeah. Now a new trial was quickly granted. And during the new one, the prosecution and the defense made their same arguments for a second time. This time, the jury one, the prosecution and the defense made their same arguments for a second time. This time, the jury sided with the prosecution. Yeah, and on June 16, 2018, a meal, Celi, was convicted on two counts of attempted murder and one count of reckless endangerment.

Bye. So just as Sweeney, the judge in the case, remarked that a meal was, quote, a person of quite exceptional callousness, who will stop at nothing to satisfy his own desires. And with that, he was sentenced to life and prison with eligibility for parole after 18 years. Because that's customary under UK law. Now, the judge, jury and prosecution may have been convinced of a meal's guilt, but Vicki was still struggling to accept the implications of the verdict.

At the time, she told reporters, it's hard to conceive somebody so close to you would want to cause you some kind of harm. I never had any indication that there was another side to him. I love the husband I had and I am grieving for that marriage. The side that they don't see is that he was a kind and loving husband. That breaks my heart. Like into a million pieces because it breaks my heart. I'm sure that was the face that he showed her on side.

Absolutely it was. Like we said, they make those moments incredibly special and they make those moments in grain in you. Exactly. So that when this happens, that's what you think of. Even the judge in the case acknowledged Vicki's conflicted feelings and said Vicki had appeared to quote, have recovered from the physical harm, but not having seen her in the witness box at length from the psychological harm and the wake of her husband's trial. Damn. Now while making the

rounds on television and in the print media, the print media circuit, giving interviews about her experience, she told another interviewer, he was my husband. Yes, things might have been breaking down. He'd been unfaithful. He had issues with money, but that's not attempted murder. Yeah. Fair. And this is so different because it's not a it's not a trial for a wife who has been murdered by her husband. She's here. It's like that is such a different vibe. It's like, because you think like all these husbands who do murder their wives and like people go on there

and like, yeah, it was bad and like this doesn't shock me so much. But if the wife was alive, would you say the same thing? It's such a different, you know what I mean? So it's like it's shocking at first, because you're like, what do you mean? But then you're like, no, this is so different. Like attempted murder and somebody surviving it

is such a different thing. They're having to deal with the fact that they, like, somehow fucked up their husbands plan to murder them. Yeah. That's so different. It is. Like such a different trial. It's truly it. It's so fucked up, their husbands plan to murder them. Yeah. That's so different. It is. It's such a different trial. It truly is.

It's so fucked up. And you're right. It's like how many of the women who did not survive would feel exactly how they did it. Would they have gone on the stand and say, no, no, no, it couldn't have been him. I could see that. I could absolutely see that.

If I would have a very hard time wrapping my brain around Drew trying to get me and vice versa with you and John. Exactly. So it's like, you just happen to work in those other scenarios. Yeah. And it's one of those things where you don't know how you'll react until it happens to you.

Exactly. And hopefully it never does. Oh God. Now, investigators also had mixed feelings about getting justice for a victim who really never wanted it to begin with or didn't seem to. And an interview with the press, that detective from earlier, Maddie Hanna, was pleased with the outcome, she said, but the potential for a meal to have gotten away with it also wasn't lost on her. Yeah.

She said, if Mark Biotta hadn't gathered the evidence and flagged it up, and if somebody who knew her hadn't run us to say some things not right here, he very well may have gotten away with it. And I, in my opinion, got away with it. And even in that expert on psychopathy, he would have kept going. She would have ended up dead. Absolutely. Now, in 2020, very recently, Vicki Silié published a book about her experience titled I Survived. From reading it, it seems like she definitely gained more clarity around the entire

situation. I totally recommend it. And looking back, she recognizes warning signs that she may have missed at the time. Yeah. She said to the Daily Mail in 2020, it took a lot for me to finally recognize that he must have done it. How could somebody I married loved and had children with do something not despicable? But that is a question that we ask, like we were just saying, in so many similar cases. It's just that Vicki made it out on the other side

and was able to contemplate it. Mm-hmm. Which leads me to important information. This is my call to action. Guys, if you or someone you know is involved in any kind of abusive relationship, please reach out. I'm gonna add a ton of resources in the show notes

for the episode. You can find those in the captions on social media and you can also find them in the episode description. If you need to find the episode description, you hit the like three little dots. It'll say like show more, there you'll see it. And for anybody that maybe is a non-social media or can't get to the show notes,

I wanna encourage everybody to check out the National Gender-Based Violence Learning Community. And I want to also encourage everybody to check out the battered women's justice project. If you or someone you know is in any kind of abusive relationship and needs resources, you can go to bwjp.org to learn more and get help today. Perfect. Yay. Wow. What a story. Oh my god. The fucking call is still coming to the printer. The call is still coming from inside

that. You will always, the text just always.. We're gonna figure out the origin of this. I know we are. We will, I promise. Well, with that being said, we hope you keep listening and we hope you. Keep it weird! But not so weird that while you're planning a Donkey Dick's Wingers party, you also are plotting the murder of your wife. Don't do that. And Vicki's a badass. Vicki fucking rules. Hell Hell yeah Vicki rocks my socks. There you go. Bye Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.