Three sisters who drowned in Brighton took their own lives, inquest finds

Jane Adetoro, Christina Walters and Rebecca Walters from London visited late mother’s former home shortly before their deaths in May

Three sisters who drowned in the sea in Brighton collectively decided to end their own lives, a coroner has ruled.

An inquest into their deaths heard on Thursday that in the days before they died, the three women made a trip together to Birmingham to visit the former home of their mother, who died by drowning in 2010.

DCI Mark Cullimore, of Sussex police, told the hearing there was no CCTV to show what the women did in the time they were in Birmingham.

The bodies of Jane Adetoro and Christina Walters were located by a RNLI lifeboat crew; Rebecca Walters’ body was recovered from the shoreline on Brighton beach.

A postmortem found all three women had drowned. There was no evidence of any drugs or alcohol in their bodies and no evidence to suggest they had been subjected to violence.

Schofield told the court: “These three sisters lived very secluded lives, they were incredibly private. We don’t know why they took this course of action or indeed why they chose to do it in Brighton. It is not for the court to speculate and sadly these reasons may never be known.”

The women’s father, Joseph Jacobson, who attended the hearing by video link, said in a written statement: “There are no words that can adequately express the pain of losing a child. To lose all three of my precious daughters, Jane, Christina and Rebecca, is a heartbreak beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org