Three sisters drowned in sea in joint suicide – UK coroner

The three sisters, pictured here as teenagers with their father, died in the sea. From left to right, Jane Adetoro, Joseph, Christina Walters and Rebecca Walters/ Credit: Sussex Police

Three British sisters who drowned in the sea in southern England in May died by suicide, a coroner ruled on Thursday at an inquest.

The women’s bodies were pulled from the sea at Brighton in the early hours of May 13 in windy weather.

Coroner Penelope Schofield concluded the women — 36-year-old Jane Adetoro, 32-year-old Christina Walters and 31-year-old Rebecca Walters — had intended to end their lives.

The women arrived in the city late in the evening by pre-booked taxi from London and were last seen alive on the beach around 3:00 am.

They entered the water in the dark when “sea conditions were adverse” but “they could not swim”, the coroner said.

The coroner said the women “lived very secluded lives”, adding: “We don’t know why they took this course of action or indeed why they chose to do it in Brighton.”

A day earlier, the three sisters, who shared a flat in London, had travelled to visit the area where their mother had drowned herself in a lake 16 years earlier, the court heard.

Police said earlier there was no evidence of criminality and the women had not visited any local businesses or nightclubs.