Brighton Inquest: Coroner Rules Three Sisters Took Their Own Lives
Three sisters found in the sea off Brighton on the morning of 13 May drowned after entering the water to end their own lives, senior coroner Penelope Schofield found at Woodvale coroner's court in Brighton. A coroner is the official who investigates sudden or unexplained deaths, and an inquest is the formal hearing that sets out who died, where, when and how. It is like rebuilding a timeline piece by piece.
The women were Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, known as Tina, 32, and Rebecca Walters, known as Becky, 31. They lived together in a flat in Greenford, west London. Their father, Joseph Jacobson, attended the inquest by video link. The Guardian
A taxi had dropped the three women at the Brighton beachfront hours before their bodies were recovered near Black Rock. Jane Adetoro was brought to shore by an RNLI crew, the charity that runs lifeboat rescues, and declared dead at the scene that morning. BBC ITV News Meridian reported on 8 October 2026 that the coroner found they had entered the sea with the intention to end their lives. ITV News Meridian
The inquest also traced an overnight journey two days earlier. On the night of 11 May, the sisters travelled by Uber from Greenford to Birmingham, where they were dropped off at 11.36pm in Linton Walk. At 1.28am on 12 May, they were picked up by taxi in Birmingham and driven back to their London flat. No CCTV captured that interval. DCI Mark Cullimore of Sussex police told the inquest there was no CCTV showing what the sisters did while in Birmingham.
Linton Walk was their former family address. Janice Adetoro, the sisters' mother, disappeared on 5 January 2010. Her body was recovered a month later from Brookvale Park lake. She was 43. The lake runs to the end of Linton Walk. When she disappeared, Jane Adetoro, then 20, and Rebecca Walters, then 15, were living with her in Linton Walk, while Christina Walters, then 16, was reportedly living with her father.
Christina Walters had recently graduated from Brunel University and worked as an accountant. The inquest heard she had suffered from anxiety and depression since her mother's death and made extensive searches about suicide in the days before her death. Police had earlier described the deaths on 13 May as a "tragic incident." The eldest sister's full name was given in earlier proceedings as Jane Veronica Adetoro. The inquest into the three deaths had been listed to open at 10am on 29 May.
The broader context here is what a coronial finding can and cannot settle. The evidence establishes identity, place, timing and medical cause, drowning, alongside the coroner's conclusion of suicide. It also leaves a documented gap. The purpose of the late-night trip to Linton Walk and the lake linked to their mother's death is not explained on the available evidence. That absence does not alter the finding. It defines its limits.
