The three sisters who drowned in Brighton took their own lives...

[Ninetwenty]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c689zxd8w87lo

I followed this story because it was so tragic, but wasn't expecting that 😪

Oh, that's awful. 😢 Were they from Aberdeen, or did they travel to another town to do it? Just trying to work out why the three sisters would have gone to Brighton. If I was in that state, I think I'd go for the path of least resistance and go in a quiet part of the Thames.

I totally assumed that one or two had fallen in and that the remaining one or two had drowned attempting to rescue them. It's very common for non-professional rescuers to drown, along with the initial victim(s).

However, once I heard that their mother had died the same way and that they had visited the place shortly before, and that they weren't staying anywhere, and that they were isolated to mostly just the three of them, I put it all together and thought it was probably a suicide pact.

Just absolutely awful. I hope that there is a heaven and I hope they are very happy there and reunited with their mum. 💔😢

There were aggravating factors, too. It's horrific enough for a child to lose their mother through illness or accident, but the girls' mum took her own life by walking into the lake. Not only that, she was missing for a month, and only found when the lake thawed a bit. Just so, so traumatic.

Yes, I think suicide pacts are rarer than single suicides. And a pact of three must be very rare.

Terrible tragedy that these 3 young women weren't able to access mental health support, for whatever reason, before jointly deciding the only way out was to take their lives, and obviously in a way to replicate what their mother must have suffered as she drowned.

If they were suffering from some kind of collective psychosis, it's odd that they all seem to have managed to hold down quite senior level jobs.

I looked up the circumstances of their mother's death and it seems there were MH issues before she disappeared in Jan 2010, and she was found a month later in the lake.

Janice Adetoro's death was not officially established as suicide.

According to The Sunday Times, an inquest at Birmingham Coroner's Court in October 2010 recorded an open verdict. The coroner, Aidan Cotter, concluded that Janice had died by drowning, with no evidence of injury.

The surnames are strange as well -

• mother - Janice Adetoro,
• father - Joseph Jacobson
• Jane Adetoro: the eldest daughter.
• Christina and Rebecca Walters: younger daughters who reportedly adopted Walters after their mother's maiden name but a 2010 missing-person appeal was made by Janice's brother, Lincoln Adetoro. So was Adetoro the maiden name?

Although Janice's mother was Cynthia Smith-Walters so it looks like Christina and Rebecca took their maternal grandmother's surname, and Janice and her elder daughter had Janice's father's surname?

Apparently Christina and Rebecca changed their surnames to Walters in adulthood.

Striking that none of the daughters had their father's surname.

According to The Sunday Times report:

• Before January 2010: Jane and Rebecca were living with their mother, Janice, in Birmingham. Christina, who was 16 at the time, was reportedly living with her father.
• After Janice died in February 2010: The sisters went to live with their father in Uxbridge, west London.
• Around 2024: The three sisters moved into their own shared-ownership flat in Greenford, west London.
• May 2026: They were living together in that Greenford flat when they died.

Such a sad story and makes you wonder what else was going on in addition to the mother's death 16 years ago.

In their mother's case, at least, it seems to have been internal, not caused by her environment. She thought that the children were trying to gas her, and more. Here's an article from the Times.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/mental-health-bereavement-brighton-birmingham-lpcz8xh2n

You haven't seen the deleted post that started the whole thing, but it's not difficult to work out roughly what it said, and that @Crowsinarow did not start that dispute.

Whitney Spears? 😂

I'm putting my conspiracy hat on and based on their cultural background there may have been some sort of religious/Vodoo beliefs behind the whole thing? Some sort of magical thinking that made them want to join their mothers holly spirit in the water? Apparently they lead very secluded lives and were not really integrated in the community which makes me think they had a different belief system. Voodoo practitioners believe immersing in seas or rivers is a form of purification.

No, the family was religious but Catholic. They had Caribbean roots, and much of the Caribbean is Catholic.

How awful. 😢 A lot of mental health conditions have a strong genetic component so that could be part of it, along with the trauma of losing their mum in such an awful way so young and the shocking state of mental health services in this country and the lack of support available. 😢

That’s horrendous. I did suspect that may be the case given how their mother died. Such a terrifying way to die! I think they were all severely mentally unwell due to the death of their mother perhaps.

It took me a sec to figure out who they were referring to 😅

Could someone summarise this please? It’s behind a paywall?!

It is? I don't have an account and it let me read it. If you clear your browser or switch to another one, it might let you.

Ah okay thanks, I’ll try on another device!

Still can’t read it 😅 If anyone could summarise much appreciated

You can read it here for free: https://archive.vn/2026.09.23-041747/https%3A/www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/mental-health-bereavement-brighton-birmingham-lpcz8xh2n

It sounds like they had significant mental health issues of their own.

So very sad

That’s so sad. What a waste of life. They seem to have been very clever too, and from the cousin’s perspective, had great fun when they moved near their maternal family in Luton.

Who is Whitney Spears??

I suspect it is a mistake, and the reference is to Whitney Houston. More especially how her daughter Bobbi Brown died in circumstances where drug use was also involved.

And both were found in a bathtub. Poor Whitney already dead, and Bobbi passed away six months after being found in the tub.

Thanks so much for your reply. FFS.

from a psychological point of view it was far, far more likely to be suicide than a murder. People affected by suicide have a higher likelihood of it themselves, and close relationships like theirs often encourage a way of thinking - this is why recovering addicts/ED are advised to not be around others still active.

Just ignore. @CurlewKate is another one who seems to be here just to lash out at people for some reason. It’s not like they contribute with much themselves apart from swearing at people. People like that can sadly really ruin your day.

Thank you so much!

Yes they did - not surprisingly. It’s so sad that not one of them was well enough to seek help for the other two. And they were all so unwell I assume they led each other into their deaths. It’s the stuff of nightmares really.