A "very experienced" skydiver took her own life during a parachute jump the morning after her relationship ended, an inquest has ruled.
Jade Damarell, 32, died instantly after deliberately not deploying her main or backup parachute during a skydive at Fleming Field in Shotton Colliery on April 27.
The incident occurred the morning after Jade ended her eight-month relationship with boyfriend Ben Goodfellow, 26, a car technician and musician who she had met through their shared love of skydiving.
Jade, who lived in Caerphilly, Wales, had left apologetic notes to her family on her phone, written at 2:30am on the day of her death.
Detective Inspector Andrew Stephenson told Crook Coroner's Court that police found notes on Jade's phone after accessing it through a message on the lock screen stating "check notes folder".
One note apologised to her family and thanked them for their support, while another detailed passwords to her financial accounts.
A British Skydiving Association report found there had been "no attempt" to deploy her parachute and concluded she "purposefully elected not to switch on her automatic activation device".
The device automatically deploys a parachute at a certain altitude if the skydiver has not done so manually.
Jade was described as a "very experienced and competent" parachutist with over 400 jumps to her name, who had skydived six times successfully the day before the incident. She consistently deployed her parachute above 2,500 feet with no equipment issues found.
She jumped from the aircraft at around 10:30am with several others, all of whom landed safely.
The marketing manager, who was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong, typically wore a GoPro camera during jumps but did not on this occasion.
Assistant Coroner Leslie Hamilton officially ruled Jade's death as suicide on Thursday. Pathologist Dr James Jenry confirmed she died of blunt trauma and "would have died immediately and on impact". A toxicology report found no drugs or alcohol in her system.
DI Stephenson said there was "no evidence of any third party involvement".
"The only conclusion I can record is that she sadly took her own life."
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Sources used: "PA Media", "Manchester Evening News", "WalesOnline", "Mirror", "Northern Echo" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
