Three Sisters Drowned at Brighton Beach in Suicide Pact, Inquest Finds

Three sisters who drowned off Brighton beach took their own lives as part of a suicide pact after visiting the site where their mother died 16 years earlier, a UK coroner's court concluded. The bodies of Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, were pulled from the sea on the morning of May 13 after emergency responders were alerted to individuals in distress.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cullimore told Woodvale Coroner's Court that emergency calls reported bodies in rough seas amid windy conditions. An RNLI lifeboat crew recovered two of the women, while the third washed ashore; all were pronounced dead at the scene. Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield officially concluded that the three women entered the water deliberately to end their lives, noting none of them knew how to swim.

Surveillance and travel records revealed that less than 48 hours before the incident, the sisters travelled from their shared home in Uxbridge, London, to Erdington, Birmingham. There, they briefly visited their mother's former residence and the lake where she drowned in 2010 following mental health struggles. The trio subsequently returned to London before arriving in Brighton late on May 12, where security footage captured them walking along the seafront before entering the beach around 2:42 a.m.

The sisters' father, Joseph Jacobson, described the loss as an unimaginable heartbreak, stating that the siblings shared an exceptionally close bond. Following their mother's death more than a decade ago, the women had lived together quietly in London, keeping to themselves according to neighbours. Health and community organizations reiterated the availability of free, confidential suicide prevention services following the inquest's findings.