EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie’s brother jailed for life over her murder 

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Gemma McCluskie went missing last March (Picture: PA)

The brother of former EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie has been jailed for life after being convicted of beating her over the head, dismembering her body and dumping her remains in a canal.

Tony McCluskie stood emotionless in the dock as a jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty of murder by an 11-1 majority.

The 36-year-old, a window cleaner and skunk cannabis smoker, had admitted manslaughter but claimed the last thing he could remember was his sister, 29, coming at him with a knife at their flat in Pelter Street, Shoreditch, east London.

Tony McCluskie was described as a skunk cannabis addict (Picture: PA)

Gemma, who played Kerry Skinner, the niece of Ethel, on EastEnders in 2001, disappeared last March, with former co-stars such as Natalie Cassidy and Brooke Kinsella appealing for help finding her on Twitter.

Jurors heard how prior to her disappearance she had confronted her brother after he flooded their kitchen by leaving the taps on in the sink.

‘Unsurprisingly, Miss McCluskie was exasperated by this. She had had enough,’ said Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, who said there had been tension between the siblings ‘for some time’.

‘Later, while she was out, her friends heard her arguing on the telephone with her brother about what had happened,’ he said.

‘It is clear that Gemma regarded this incident as the last straw and that she wanted the defendant to move out.’

Tony McCluskie senior was in court to hear the grisly details of how his son murdered his daughter(Picture: PA)

The court heard that McCluskie hit his sister over the head at least twice, before hacking her body into at least six pieces with a cleaver and a knife.

He then dragged a heavy suitcase to a minicab office before getting a car to Regent’s Canal, where Gemma’s torso was found a week later when the case sprung open.

Her limbs were found in black bags the following week, but it took six months for her head to be located. She was identified by a tattoo on her back and via dental records.

McCluskie sent his sister a text the day after he murdered her with the words ‘Love ya xx’ and joined in search attempts, while three hoax calls suggesting she had been kidnapped added to the confusion.

But he was arrested after blood was found in the flat’s bathroom and a blood-stained knife in the kitchen.

CCTV footage showed Tony McCluskie leaving a cab with a heavy suitcase (Picture: PA)

Giving his version of events, McCluskie, who admitted manslaughter, told the court: ‘She came up the stairs, she was shouting “Are you gonna go, are you gonna go, are you gonna go?”.

‘I turned round and she was standing there with a knife in her hand.

‘I got very angry, I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

‘All I remember is just grabbing her wrists. After that I have no recollection.’

Court artist sketch of Tony McCluskie in the dock at the Old Bailey (Picture: PA)

Jurors rejected his claims, however, finding him guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 20 years.

Alison Saunders, London’s chief crown prosecutor, said: ‘This was an extremely distressing and violent case. McCluskie used all means possible to divert suspicion away from himself, giving false hope to family and friends. After committing the crime on March 1 2012, he filed a missing persons report and gave false information to the police.

‘The strong case against McCluskie led to him admitting unlawfully killing his sister and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, saying it was not intentional and that he had lost control.’

Ms Saunders added: ‘But the prosecution did not accept his plea to manslaughter. We felt that the evidence of brutality showed a deliberate intent to cause death or serious bodily harm to Gemma, which amounts to murder.’

Pictured: Tributes pour in as the man decapitated by a lorry is named

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