The 'slinks' are strips of material which connect the jumper's harness to the canopies. Without them a parachute cannot function properly.
When The Mail on Sunday approached Ms Cilliers at her home last week she hobbled to the door on crutches and wearing a body brace. In a faint voice she declined to comment, but The Mail on Sunday has been passed a posting she made on Facebook which read:
"Where do I go from here? I have no idea where to start. It is a hundred times harder as I am housebound and cannot care independently for my children due to my current injuries. I have had a lot of support from the police/medical chain/social work but I really need friends too."
At around 4.15pm on Easter Sunday Victoria, a qualified parachute instructor, jumped alone from a Cessna Caravan light aircraft at 4,000ft.
According to sources at the airfield she deployed her main canopy at 3,000ft but sections did not unfold, causing her to spin violently, a terrifying ordeal known as "going down the plughole".
As an experienced jumper Victoria then released her main chute and pulled a handle on her left-shoulder strap to activate her reserve canopy. But airfield sources say her reserve canopy also suffered a malfunction caused by the missing 'slinks', but this has not been confirmed by police.
Although the reserve chute had not fully deployed she was able to use her skill to slow her descent to an estimated 30mph and to avoid landing on a tarmacked road. Instead she crash-landed in a field.
Medics sprinted to where she was lying fully conscious but in agony. She was taken to hospital in Southampton by helicopter and spent the next three weeks there.
Experts from the Army Parachuting Association and the British Parachute Association have investigated the very rare double malfunction. BPA chief Tony Butler confirmed its report had been sent to Wiltshire police, adding: "It would be inappropriate for us to comment further."
Victoria told friends that Emile had moved out of the home they shared in Amesbury, Wiltshire, with their children, Lily, three, and newborn son Ethan. The couple wed in South Africa in 2011.
Airfield sources say Victoria had not been able to use her personal parachute on the day because it had not been unpacked and inspected within the last six months, as rules require, so borrowed a parachute from the stores at Netheravon.
Two sources say Emile signed out an Army parachute from the storeroom at the airfield on his wife's behalf on Easter Saturday, the day before the incident. But this has not been confirmed by police. The Army storekeeper declined to comment.
The Ministry of Defence also declined to comment but Detective Inspector Paul Franklin of Wiltshire police said: 'This woman would have been dead if her chute hadn't partially opened. This meant her descent was slowed enough for her to survive the fall.
"We were alerted to concerns over what had happened by the parachute club and as a result instigated an investigation. In particular, we are looking for the slinks, which may have been removed and discarded."
- Daily Mail
