Coroner rules three sisters intended to end their lives

A coroner has concluded that three sisters who drowned off Brighton intended to end their lives, following an inquest into their deaths in May. Senior coroner Penelope Schofield said the reasons for their actions, including why they went to Brighton, might never be known. Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, were found in the sea on May 13. The sisters, who had lived together in Greenford, west London, had travelled to Brighton by taxi the previous evening and were last seen alive on the beach in the early hours. Schofield told the inquest that the women entered the water in darkness, could not swim and faced adverse sea conditions. Their deaths were recorded as drownings. The coroner concluded that they had intended to end their lives, but said the court could not speculate about their reasons. The sisters had visited Birmingham on May 11, travelling to an area near Brookvale Park Lake, where their mother, Janice Adetoro, drowned in 2010. Inquest evidence described their subsequent journey to Brighton. The circumstances of their time in Birmingham were not established at the hearing, according to police evidence presented to the inquest.