The family of three sisters whose bodies were recovered from the sea in Brighton, and whose nationality has not been officially confirmed in reports, have spoken about their devastating loss, saying it mirrors the tragedy of losing their mother 16 years earlier.
Ajike Johnson, the sisters’ aunt, recounted how she first came across media reports last week about three women found dead in the sea, not realising the victims were her nieces.
“I just remember thinking, what has happened here? God bless them, and their poor families,” she told the Daily Mail.
Emergency services were called to Madeira Drive on 13 May at around 5.45am after concerns were raised that someone had been seen in the water.
The bodies of Jane Adetoro, 36, Christina Walter, 32, and Rebecca Walter, 31, were later recovered from the sea.
The girls’ mother, Janice Adetoro, died in 2010 after walking into a lake in Birmingham. According to reports, her body was not recovered for several months due to weather conditions at the time.
Ms Johnson said the earlier tragedy had deeply affected the sisters.
Ms Johnson said her death “traumatised the girls” and they “never recovered”.
Their father, Joseph, has been left severely distressed since learning of their deaths.
“They are his babies,” Ms Johnson said. “He is a softie anyway. My brother is a teddy bear, but when it comes to his girls… He has been catatonic.”
The family said they are still trying to understand why the women, who lived in the Uxbridge area of northwest London, were in Brighton, as they were not aware of any reason for the visit apart from a possible past family holiday connection.
Genevieve Barnaby-Adetoro, the girls’ stepmother, described how police broke the news to the family.
“The police phoned first,” she said. “They asked Joseph if he had children, and when he said yes, they asked him their names. Then they came round to tell us in person. We’d been watching the news and had no idea it was our girls. We didn’t even know they were in Brighton. Then we had to go and identify the girls, one by one.”
Ms Barnaby-Adetoro added that she did not believe the sisters’ deaths were intentional, linking them to their mother’s passing years earlier.
“It is 16 years since they lost their mother. Time diminishes pain. It is still there, but there is no way you kill yourself after 16 years because your mother died. It doesn’t happen like that.”
Police say inquiries are ongoing to establish how the three women ended up in the water, adding that there is currently no evidence of third-party involvement or criminal activity.
Investigators have reviewed extensive CCTV footage and are speaking to businesses and residents in the Madeira Drive area to trace the sisters’ final movements.
Authorities have also appealed for witnesses who may have seen the women between 10pm on 12 May and 5.30am on 13 May to come forward, quoting Operation Ledmore, serial 438 of 20/05.
