Brighton sisters' sea deaths were suicide, coroner says

A UK coroner has ruled that three British sisters whose bodies were pulled from the sea at Brighton in May died by suicide.

Coroner Penelope Schofield concluded at an inquest on Thursday that Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, had intended to end their lives.

The women had travelled from London to Brighton by pre-booked taxi late in the evening and were last seen alive on the beach at about 3:00 am. Their bodies were recovered from the sea in the early hours of May 13 in windy weather.

Schofield said the sisters entered the water in the dark when sea conditions were adverse and that they could not swim. She said the women lived secluded lives and that it was not known why they chose Brighton.

The inquest heard that the day before their deaths, the sisters, who shared a flat in London, had visited the area where their mother had drowned herself in a lake 16 years earlier.

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