A UK coroner has ruled that three sisters of Nigerian descent whose bodies were recovered from the sea off Brighton died by suicide, following an inquest into their deaths.
Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, had been living together in Greenford, London, and reportedly maintained very private and secluded lives after the death of their mother, who drowned in 2010.
According to evidence presented at the inquest, the sisters travelled to an area of Birmingham on May 11, near the location where their mother had died. They subsequently travelled to Brighton, where they drowned in the early hours of May 13 amid adverse sea conditions.
The inquest heard that none of the three sisters could swim. Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield said the sisters had lived extremely secluded lives and that their reasons for taking their own lives, as well as their decision to travel to Brighton, remained unclear.
The circumstances surrounding their deaths have left their family devastated, particularly their father, Joseph Jacobsen, who attended the inquest remotely.
In a heartfelt written tribute, he expressed the unimaginable pain of losing all three daughters, describing them as his precious children.
He wrote: “To lose all three of my precious daughters, Jane, Christina and Rebecca, is a heartbreak beyond anything I could ever have imagined.
“May your beautiful souls rest in perfect peace.”
Their father said he struggled to understand why their lives had ended so suddenly. He also expressed hope that his daughters had been reunited with their late mother in God’s eternal care.
The tragedy has left unanswered questions about the sisters’ final days and the circumstances that led them to Brighton, as the family continues to mourn the loss of three daughters.