Experienced skydiver deliberately fell to her death, coroner finds

An experienced skydiver deliberately fell to her death the day after her relationship ended, an inquest heard.

Jade Damarell, 32, did not deploy her main or reserve parachutes and had switched off the automatic activation device (AAD) before crashing.

She fell from 15,500ft onto farmland near an airfield at Shotton Colliery, County Durham, on 27 April.

Ms Damarell was a marketing manager who was born in Hong Kong and lived in Caerphilly, Wales.

She loved skydiving and had completed more than 500 jumps. The day before she died, she had completed six jumps safely and without issues.

Ms Damarell left instructions on the lock screen of her phone on how to access the handset and left notes and details of her finances in its Notes folder, the inquest at Crook Civic Centre, County Durham, was told.

Coroner Leslie Hamilton gave a conclusion of suicide after finding that she had intended to take her own life that morning.

Dr Hamilton summarised a statement from her former partner, which stated that "they had ended their relationship the night before".

The coroner did not go into further detail, except to say that they had met through a shared love of skydiving.

Bryn Chaffe, co-owner of Sky-High Skydiving, from where she jumped, said in a statement that he saw Ms Damarell eating toast in the base's café before her jump, and that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

A post-mortem examination determined that she died from blunt force injuries, and toxicology tests showed no presence of alcohol or drugs. Her GP reported that she was not on medication at the time.

A report for the coroner by British Skydiving, which investigated her fatal freefall, found that all the equipment was in working order.

Ms Damarell would normally wear a camera on her helmet but did not have one on when she fell, the organisation said.

She confirmed she had an AAD, which was designed to deploy a parachute if a certain speed or altitude was met, but it was later found she had switched it off. She was aware that she had to deploy a parachute before her altitude dropped below 2,500ft, the inquest heard.

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Detective Inspector Andrew Stephenson, of Durham Police, attended the scene and found Ms Damarell had landed on her back.

He later recovered her phone and found she had left instructions on its lock screen on how to open it and to look in its Notes folder.

The detective's report said she left a note for her family "apologising and thanking them for their support".

Jeff Montgomery, head of safety and training at British Skydiving, said after attending the hearing: "We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Jade Damarell and it is an extremely tragic incident."

Her parents, Liz and Andrew Samuel, observed the hearing remotely.

After the inquest, her family said: "Our beloved daughter Jade was a brilliant, beautiful, brave and truly extraordinary person.

"A bright, adventurous, free spirit, she lived with immense energy, passion and love and touched countless lives with her warmth and kindness."

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