A coroner has concluded that three sisters whose bodies were recovered from the sea off Brighton died by suicide. Emergency services were alerted to the scene at approximately 5.45am on 13 May, before the bodies of Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, from west London, were retrieved from the water.
Journey to Brighton
An inquest into their deaths heard that the sisters had travelled by taxi to Birmingham the day before they made their way to the seaside city, and were dropped off on the street where their mother, who died by drowning in 2010, had lived. They arrived at Linton Walk, Birmingham, close to Brookvale Park Lake, at 11.36pm on 11 May, and were collected to return to the flat they shared in Greenford, west London, at 1.28am on 12 May.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cullimore told the hearing at Woodvale Coroner's Court in Brighton that no CCTV footage existed to establish what the women had been doing during their time in Birmingham. On the evening of 12 May, they boarded a pre-booked taxi to Brighton, arriving near the seafront at 10.21pm. They are believed to have last been seen alive on CCTV footage from the beach at 2.42am on 13 May.
Recovery and Inquest Conclusion
Ms Adetoro was brought ashore by an RNLI crew and pronounced dead at the scene on the morning of 13 May, the inquest heard. Christina Walters was retrieved from the water by an RNLI lifeboat, while Rebecca Walters was washed ashore onto Brighton beach. Both were also pronounced dead that morning by paramedics.
Bringing the inquest into their deaths to a close, senior coroner Penelope Schofield addressed the court on Thursday, stating: "On May 13, in hours of darkness, they entered the sea at Brighton, they could not swim and sea conditions were adverse." She determined that drowning was the medical cause of death for all three women, concluding that they died by suicide.
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