Brother jailed for gruesome killing of EastEnders actress

Tony McCluskie, 36, showed no emotion yesterday as he was told at the Old Bailey he would serve a minimum term of 20 years.

The judge said McCluskie had done everything he could to discredit his “hugely popular” sister during the trial, and rejected claims by the skunk cannabis addict that she had pushed him over the edge by being mean to him.

McCluskie was found guilty of murder by an 11-1 majority. He had admitted manslaughter.

Miss McCluskie’s dismembered body was found in the Regent’s Canal in East London in March last year. Her head was found in the water six months later.

The 29-year-old found fame in the BBC soap in 2001 when she played Ethel Skinner’s niece.

After the verdict, Tony McCluskie Snr said he would not desert his son and said: “I know that my son, Tony Junior, is suffering too. I will not desert him even though he has committed this terrible crime and taken Gemma’s life.

“I hope and pray that one day Tony will be released from prison with a better understanding of his actions.”

Mr Justice Fulford told McCluskie: “I have no doubt that you killed your sister because she was furious with you for letting a sink overflow in the bathroom. I unhesitatingly reject your account that she had used bad language towards you or that she had belittled you in the past.

“Gemma McCluskie was a young woman with a huge zest for life. She was a warm-hearted woman who was loved by a great many people.”

He said McCluskie had set about “in a cold-blooded way” to conceal what he had done.

Window cleaner McCluskie claimed to have lost his memory after a tirade of abuse from his sister who came at him with a knife.

But the prosecution said he killed her after she lost patience with him and asked him to leave the flat in Pelter Street, Shoreditch, east London, where they lived. The final straw came when McCluskie left taps running and a sink overflowed.

Miss McCluskie was killed by being hit over the head at least twice and her body was hacked into six pieces with a cleaver and a knife.

McCluskie lugged a heavy suitcase to a local cab firm and was seen taking it towards the canal.

Miss McCluskie was last seen attending the £650m opening of the new Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London.

Her brother joined friends to pretend to help find her but, Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said McCluskie sent police on a wild goose chase after the actress was reported missing.

Mr Aylett said the next day he sent his sister a text, pretending she was still alive, and ending “Love ya xx” and told police his sister was seen in a local kebab shop after she went missing, and visited their mother in hospital.

But scientists found blood in the bathroom and a blood-stained knife in the kitchen of the flat.

Her other brother, Danny, said: “Before this we were a happy family. Now we are a family struggling to deal with this unimaginable nightmare.

“The whole thing at times does not seem real, we are still very much in shock and disbelief and unable really to come to terms with what has happened to Gemma.”