Experienced skydiver deliberately fell to her death, coroner finds

An experienced skydiver deliberately fell to her death from 15,500ft the day after her relationship ended, an inquest heard.

Jade Damarell, 32, did not deploy her main parachute or the reserve and switched off an automatic activation device (AAD) before she crashed on to farmland near the airfield at Shotton Colliery, County Durham, on April 27, the hearing was told.

The marketing manager 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 intended to take her own life that morning.

Ms Damarell, who was born in Hong Kong and lived in Caerphilly, Wales, loved skydiving and had completed more than 500 jumps.

The day before she died, she had completed six jumps safely and without issues.

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, gave a statement in which he said he saw Ms Damarrel eating toast in the base’s cafe before she jumped and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

A post-mortem found she died from blunt trauma injuries and toxicological tests were negative for drink 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.

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

He later recovered Ms Damarell’s 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”.

Dr Hamilton concluded that the “very experienced” skydiver chose not to deploy either of her parachutes or use the AAD and that she did intend to take her own life.

Jeff Montgomery, head of safety and training at British Skydiving, attended the hearing and said afterwards: “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.”

Published: 21/08/2025 by Radio NewsHub