Three sisters who drowned in the sea off Brighton took their own lives, a coroner has ruled.
Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, had been living “very secluded lives” following the death of their mother, who drowned in 2010, senior coroner Penelope Schofield said.
On 11 May, the women – who had all been living together in Greenford, London – visited an area of Birmingham close to where their mother died before travelling the next day to Brighton beach, where they drowned in adverse sea conditions in the early hours of 13 May. The coroner said they could not swim.
Their father Joseph Jacobsen said it was heartbreaking to lose “all three of my precious daughters”.
He was among family members who followed proceedings via video link.
In an emotional statement read out on his behalf, he said he watched his daughters grow from little girls to beautiful, intelligent women “with a special place in my heart”.
He said: “There are no words that can adequately express the pain of losing a child.
“To lose all three of my precious daughters is a heartbreak beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”
He could not understand why his daughters’ lives ended so suddenly, and hoped they were reunited with their mother “in God’s eternal care”, he added.