Funeral Held for 3 Sisters Who Died Off Brighton as Inquest Awaits October Hearing

Q: With no foul play suspected, what will the inquest reveal about the sisters' tragic final moments in Brighton?

The inquest is expected to establish, as far as the evidence allows, how the three sisters came to be in the water, the medical cause of death, and the sequence of their final movements in Brighton, but it has not yet done so. What is known so far is limited. Police say there is no evidence of third-party involvement, and one line of inquiry is that the women may have entered the sea from the beach and then got into difficulty. Detectives are reviewing hundreds of hours of CCTV and tracing their movements between about 10 p.m. on May 12 and 5:30 a.m. on May 13, including reports that they were seen near Brighton Palace Pier before drifting toward Brighton Marina. The inquest, reopened after its initial hearing in May and due to continue in October, should bring together post-mortem findings, witness accounts, CCTV evidence and emergency response details. That process is likely to clarify where the sisters were before entering the water, whether they were together throughout, when they were first seen in distress, and the circumstances in which each was recovered near Black Rock and Madeira Drive. What it is unlikely to do, at least unless new evidence emerges, is provide a simple or definitive explanation for motive or intent. The senior coroner has already said the causes of death were still “yet to be ascertained” pending further medical investigation, and has indicated the hearing should help counter speculation online.

Q: Why did three successful sisters, who lived together, all enter the sea on that fateful morning?

It is not yet known why the three sisters entered the sea that morning. What is established is limited. Jane Adetoro, Christina Walters and Rebecca Walters were found in the water near Black Rock car park on Madeira Drive in Brighton after emergency services were called at about 5:45am on 13 May. Sussex Police have said they are satisfied there was no third-party involvement, and one line of inquiry is that the women may have gone into the sea from the beach and then got into difficulty. The key unanswered issue is motive and sequence: how and why they came to be at the beach in the early hours. Police are still reviewing hundreds of hours of CCTV and speaking to witnesses who may have seen them between late evening and about 5:30am. The coroner has also said the causes of death have not yet been fully ascertained, with medical investigations continuing. Their professional success and the fact they lived together are part of the human story, but they do not explain the incident. Family tributes at the funeral emphasized their close bond and achievements, while the surviving sister’s remarks underscored the scale of the loss rather than any reason for what happened. So, at this stage, any claim about why all three entered the sea would be speculation. The most reliable answer is that investigators and the inquest are still trying to determine exactly what happened, with further hearings due to continue.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 29

North-west London hosted the funeral for Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, whose father called losing his three daughters "unbearable."
13 May is when the sisters died in the sea off Brighton; an inquest has been opened, with causes of death still unascertained and a full hearing due in early October.
05:45 BST was when emergency services were called to Black Rock car park in Madeira Drive; RNLI crews recovered two bodies from the water and the youngest sister later washed ashore nearby.
Sussex Police said there was no third-party involvement and are still investigating how the women came to be in the water after reviewing hundreds of hours of CCTV and speaking to witnesses.