Jade Damarell UK skydiver jumps to her death one day after rocker boyfriend, Ben Goodfellow dumps her. Inquest hears how skydiver had intentionally failed to pull her parachute along with discovered letter discussing her intentions.
An experienced UK skydiver with over 400 successful jumps behind her is now thought to have intentionally taken her own life after failing to open her parachute last month, crashing into a farmer’s field in County Durham in northeast England.
Jade Damarell, 32, of Caerphilly, South Wales, died on April 27, just one day after being ‘dumped’ by fellow skydiver, Ben Goodfellow, 26, the Daily Mail reported.
A friend of Damarell claimed the ‘experienced skydiver’ had ‘chosen not to open her parachute’ during the fatal descent. At the time of her death, Damarell had jumped out at 10,000 feet.
Jade Damarell UK skydiver was romantically involved with rocker boyfriend
‘The two of them were inseparable,’ an anonymous friend told the Daily Mail of the pair, who dated for around eight months.
‘They spent all their time together, they didn’t really engage with anyone else. They did skydives together all the time.’
‘The night before Jade died, Ben called off the relationship,’ the friend added.
‘He went to work the next day, and that’s when Jade fell to her death,’ the friend said.
The couple had lived together in a double room at a property rented out to parachutists near the airfield for several months.
Goodfellow was also a technician at Nissan and the lead guitarist and vocalist for indie band Post Rome, which cancelled a gig shortly after Damarell’s death due to ‘unseen circumstances,’ the outlet said.
Skydiving death was not being treated as suspicious
Initial reports had assumed Damarell’s death was a tragic accident. But SkyHigh Skydiving with whom Damarell flew with on her fateful jump, issued a statement saying her death was suspected to have been ‘a deliberate act’.
It is understood police quickly marked the tragedy as non-suspicious after discovering a note disclosing her intentions at the home she’d shared with Goodfellow.
The UK’s Mirror reported that an inquest into Damarell’s death heard that Damarell did not suffer any failure in her equipment. Asked by Senior Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield if there was any reason to suspect equipment failure, Coroner’s officer Ms Alexis Blighe replied ‘No reason at all sir.’
Police said Damarell’s death was ‘not being treated as suspicious’ — and the company she jumped with said that ‘all indications from the police and British Skydiving are that this was a deliberate act taken to end her own life.’
A friend previously told the Daily Mail that ‘everyone is devastated and deeply traumatized’ by the 32-year-old’s death because ‘she was very much part of the skydiving community.’
‘She was mad for the sport,’ the friend said. ‘In just the two days before she died, she did 11 jumps. She must have done 80 this year.’
Emotional roller coaster and thrill seeker
Of note, Damarell who worked as a marketing manager, had previously been married to a Leeds-based lawyer but was said to have divorced.
At least one person witnessed Damarell jump to her death.
The local police department, the Durham Constabulary, said: ‘Her death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will now be prepared for the coroner.’
In just the two days before she died, Damarell an active thrill seeker did 11 jumps. And that in part may explain the boyfriend’s decision to end their relationship and what may have tempted Damarell to tip over to the other side and take her own life.
