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

Three sisters who drowned in the sea off Brighton took their own lives, a coroner has ruled.

Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, who had all been living together in Greenford, London, died on 13 May.

On 11 May, the sisters had visited an area of Birmingham close to where their mother had drowned in 2010. They then travelled to Brighton.

At an inquest, senior coroner Penelope Schofield said the women faced adverse sea conditions when they entered the water off Brighton beach and could not swim.

Joseph Jacobsen, the father of the three women, was among family members who followed proceedings via video link.

In an emotional statement read out on his behalf, he said he watched his daughters grow from little girls to beautiful, intelligent women "with a special place in my heart".

He said: "There are no words that can adequately express the pain of losing a child.

"To lose all three of my precious daughters is a heartbreaking."

He said he could not understand why his daughters' lives ended so suddenly, and hoped they were reunited with their mother "in God's eternal care".

Then hearing was told the sisters left their home in London and arrived in Brighton together by taxi at 22:21 BST on 12 May. They were last seen alive at 02:42 on 13 May.

Police searched Christina's laptop and found 227 references to water and 179 references to suicide.

The coroner said Christina had been experiencing anxiety and depression since the death of her mother.

A previous inquest into their mothers' death had found her cause of death was drowning.

Postmortem tests revealed toxicology results for all three sisters were negative for drugs and alcohol.

The coroner concluded the women had intended to take their own lives and said it might never be known why they chose Brighton.