Three sisters whose bodies were recovered from the sea off Brighton took their own lives, a coroner has ruled.
Emergency services were called to the scene at around 5.45am on May 13, before the bodies of Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, from west London, were pulled from the water.
An inquest into their deaths heard the sisters had travelled by taxi to Birmingham the day before they went to the seaside city and were dropped off at the street where their mother, who died by drowning in 2010, lived.
They arrived at Linton Walk, Birmingham, near to Brookvale Park Lake, at 11.36pm on May 11 and were picked up to return to the flat they lived in together in Greenford, west London, at 1.28am on May 12.
Detective chief inspector Mark Cullimore told the hearing at Woodvale Coroner’s Court in Brighton that there was no CCTV to see what the women had been doing in the time they were in Birmingham.
On the evening of May 12, they took a pre-booked taxi to Brighton and arrived near the seafront at 10.21pm.
They are thought to have last been seen alive on CCTV from the beach at 2.42am on May 13.
Ms Adetoro was brought to shore by an RNLI crew and declared dead at the scene on the morning of May 13, the inquest heard.
Christina Walters was recovered from the sea by an RNLI lifeboat, and Rebecca Walters was washed on to the shore of Brighton beach. They were also pronounced dead that morning by paramedics.
Concluding the inquest into their deaths, senior coroner Penelope Schofield told the court on Thursday: “On May 13, in hours of darkness, they entered the sea at Brighton, they could not swim and sea conditions were adverse.”
A post-mortem found all three women had drowned and cited no evidence of any drugs or alcohol in their bodies, and no evidence to suggest they had been subject to violence.
The coroner concluded that the three sisters intended to end their lives.
“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,” Ms Schofield told the court.
“It is not for the court to speculate and sadly these reasons may never be known.”
The inquest heard Christina Walters suffered from anxiety and depression since her mother’s death, but Ms Adetoro was not registered with a doctor, and Rebecca Walters’ records had nothing of note, Mr Cullimore said.
Paying tribute to his daughters, their father Joseph Jacobson, who attended by videolink, 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 daughter, Jane, Christina and Rebecca, is a heartbreak beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”
He said he “cannot understand why their lives ended so suddenly”, but added: “You were my daughters, you will always be my daughters and I will love you for the rest of my life.
“May your beautiful souls rest in perfect peace.”
– Samaritans can be contacted for free, day or night, 365 days a year, on 116 123, or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.
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