Three sisters from a British Nigerian family who were found dead in the sea off Brighton have been ruled to have died by suicide following an inquest into their deaths.
Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, were found in the sea and on the shoreline at Brighton in the early hours of May 13.
The sisters, who lived together in Greenford, west London, had travelled to Birmingham two days before their deaths. They visited an area close to Brookvale Park Lake, where their mother, Janice Adetoro, died by drowning in 2010.
The women travelled to Birmingham by taxi on May 11 and returned to their home in London during the early hours of May 12. Later that day, they travelled by taxi to Brighton, arriving near the seafront at about 10.21pm.
CCTV showed the sisters at different locations along Brighton seafront during the early hours of May 13. They were last seen alive at about 2.42am.
The inquest at Woodvale Coroner’s Court in Brighton heard that Jane and Christina were recovered from the sea by an RNLI lifeboat crew, while Rebecca was recovered from the shoreline.
Senior coroner Penelope Schofield concluded that all three women had entered the sea in darkness and died by suicide. The court heard that the sisters could not swim and that sea conditions were adverse.
Postmortem examinations found that all three women died from drowning. Toxicology tests were negative for drugs and alcohol, and there was no evidence that any of the sisters had been subjected to violence.
The inquest heard that Christina had experienced anxiety and depression since the death of her mother. Police examining her laptop found 227 references to water and 179 references to suicide.
Rebecca’s medical records contained nothing of note, while Jane was not registered with a doctor.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cullimore of Sussex Police told the inquest there was no CCTV footage showing what the sisters did during their time in Birmingham.
Their father, Joseph Jacobson, attended the proceedings by video link. In a statement read to the court, he said there were no words that could adequately express the loss of his three daughters.
The coroner said the sisters had lived very secluded lives and that the reasons for their decision to end their lives might never be known.
The deaths have brought renewed attention to the circumstances surrounding their mother’s drowning in 2010 and the sisters’ visit to the area where she died shortly before travelling to Brighton.
The inquest formally recorded drowning as the medical cause of death for all three sisters and suicide as the manner of death.
