The three sisters whose bodies were recovered from the sea off Brighton had made a deeply poignant visit to the Birmingham lake where their mother died — just two days before they were found dead.
Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walters, 32, and Rebecca Walters, 31, were recovered from the water near Black Rock, off Madeira Drive, in the early hours of May 13, 2026. Their deaths came 16 years after the loss of their mother, Janice Adetoro, who drowned in Birmingham in 2010.
The reason the sisters travelled to Brighton remains unclear. But their cousin Natalie Walters-Daniel believes their visit to the lake where their mother died may have carried a deeper emotional significance.
Speaking to The Times, she said the sisters had never fully overcome losing their mother while they were still young — Jane was 20, Christina 16 and Rebecca 15.
“To lose their mum at the ages that they were, it was the crucial stages of growing up and becoming young women,” Walters-Daniel said.
She explained that the sisters had lost the maternal guidance, reassurance and love they would normally have received during those formative years.
“For them to come to Birmingham, to take that moment that they did within the lake and also to see their mother, I think that there is definitely a connection there,” she said.
Their Mother’s Death Had Shaped the Family
Janice had disappeared in December 2009 and was found dead three months later. She had previously attended a police station with what an inquest recorded as “paranoid delusions” and had experienced stress-related mental health problems.
At the time of her disappearance, one of her daughters was living with her. The family made an appeal for Janice to contact them, with her brother Lincoln saying her daughters were deeply distressed and desperate to hear from her.
After their mother’s death, the sisters eventually moved back to London. They later lived together in Greenford, west London, and were described by relatives as extremely private.
Jane worked as a senior accountant, Christina as a junior accountant and Rebecca as an HR administrator.
Questions Still Surround the Brighton Deaths
Emergency services were called to Brighton at around 5.45am on May 13 after concerns were raised about someone in the water. Jane and Christina were recovered by RNLI crews, while Rebecca’s body was later washed ashore. All three were pronounced dead.
Despite the circumstances, Sussex Police have said there is no evidence of criminality or third-party involvement.
At an inquest hearing in May, post-mortem examinations had not established a cause of death. Medical investigations were still being carried out, with the provisional cause recorded as “yet to be ascertained”. The inquest was adjourned until October 8.
The coroner, Penelope Schofield, also said she hoped information released during the hearing would help stop speculation on social media.
For Walters-Daniel, however, the family may never receive every answer they are searching for.
“We are not going to get the full answers to this,” she said, according to The Sun.
A Father’s Heartbreaking Tribute
The sisters’ father, Joseph, previously paid tribute to his daughters, saying there were no words capable of describing the pain of losing all three.
“Jane, Christina and Becky were more than daughters to me; they were my joy, my strength and the beautiful light that filled our family with happiness and love,” he wrote in the funeral order of service.
He remembered Jane for her strength, Tina for her kindness and Becky for her warmth and joyful spirit.
Their stepmother, Genevieve Barnaby, also described the sisters as “the most beautiful girls” and said the family’s hearts were broken.
The three women were laid to rest at a funeral in London in June, where relatives spoke about their lives, their close bond and the lasting memory they had left with those who knew them.
A fundraising appeal launched to help cover the funeral expenses has received substantial public support, with reports putting the amount raised at more than £45,000. The family said the money would help provide Jane, Christina and Rebecca with the “loving and dignified farewell they deserve.”
For those left behind, the unanswered questions surrounding the sisters’ final days remain painful. But their family continues to remember them not simply through the tragedy of their deaths, but through the lives they shared together — three sisters who had remained close after enduring the devastating loss of their mother.