Brighton sisters took their own lives, inquest rules

The sisters visited Birmingham just days before their deaths

Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, had been living “very secluded lives” since their mother drowned in 2010, senior coroner Penelope Schofield told the inquest.

The sisters travelled to Birmingham on 11 May, visiting an area close to where their mother had died. They then made their way to Brighton the following day.

The three women entered the sea during the early hours of 13 May, despite difficult conditions. The coroner said they could not swim.

Schofield said the circumstances surrounding their deaths remained unclear and that the sisters' reasons for travelling to Brighton may never be established.

“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,” she told the court.

“It is not for the court to speculate and sadly these reasons may never be known.”

Police found hundreds of references to water and suicide

Investigators examining Christina’s laptop found hundreds of references to subjects including water and suicide. The device contained 227 mentions of water and 179 references to suicide.

The coroner was also told that Christina had struggled with anxiety and depression after the death of her mother.

Det Ch Insp Mark Cullimore said Rebecca’s medical records did not contain anything significant that was relevant to the investigation. Jane, meanwhile, was not registered with a GP.

Toxicology examinations carried out as part of the postmortem examinations found no drugs or alcohol in the bodies of any of the three sisters.

There were also no signs of physical violence, with nothing found to suggest that any of the women had been assaulted.

An emotional statement from their father was read to the court

The sisters’ father, Joseph Jacobsen, said he was struggling to come to terms with losing all three of his daughters.

Jacobsen was among the relatives watching the proceedings remotely via video link as an emotional statement was read to the court on his behalf.

He spoke of seeing his daughters grow from young girls into women he described as beautiful and intelligent, saying each held “a special place in my heart”.

Describing the loss as something he could never have imagined, 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 heartbreak beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”

Jacobsen said he was unable to understand why his daughters’ lives had come to such a sudden end.

He also expressed hope that the sisters had been reunited with their mother and were together “in God’s eternal care”.