Three British-Nigerian sisters, Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, died on May 13, 2026, after entering the sea in the early hours of the morning off Brighton beach in the United Kingdom. The sisters, who lived together in Greenford, west London, were ruled to have died by suicide, according to senior coroner Penelope Schofield's ruling during an inquest at Woodvale Coroner’s Court in Brighton on Thursday, October 8.
The inquest heard that the sisters travelled to Birmingham on May 11, two days before their deaths, and visited an area close to where their mother, Janice Adetoro, died by drowning in 2010. They later returned to London before travelling together by taxi to Brighton on the evening of May 12. The sisters arrived at 10:21 p.m. local time and were last seen alive on CCTV at 2:42 a.m. on May 13.
Emergency services were called later that morning after the women were found in the sea near Brighton’s coastline. The coroner confirmed drowning as the medical cause of death for all three sisters. Schofield said the women had lived very private lives, making it difficult to establish why they travelled to Brighton and entered the water.
The coroner cautioned against speculation about the reasons behind the sisters' deaths, stating that "they were incredibly private" and that "it is not for the court to speculate and sadly these reasons may never be known." The inquest did not establish why they chose to end their lives or why they travelled to Brighton.
Their father, Joseph Jacobsen, expressed profound grief over the deaths of his three daughters in a statement read during the inquest. “There are no words that can adequately express the pain of losing a child. To lose all three of my precious daughters is heartbreaking,” he said. Jacobsen followed the proceedings through a video link.
The sisters' uncle, Adesoji Adetoro, had also expressed the family’s grief in a fundraising appeal launched in June. “The girls had so much life ahead of them, and their loss has left a pain and emptiness in our hearts that words cannot describe,” he said. The inquest brought renewed attention to the family’s history of loss.
The coroner's ruling and the family's statements highlighted the devastating impact of the sisters' deaths, with their father describing watching his daughters grow into intelligent women and expressing the family’s devastation over their loss. The incident has left the family and community in shock, with many still trying to come to terms with the tragic events.
Key points
- The sisters' deaths were ruled as suicide by the coroner.
- The sisters visited an area close to where their mother died by drowning 16 years prior.
- The family has expressed profound grief over the loss of the three sisters.
