Brother of Gemma McCluskie: ‘I can’t recall killing star’

By ELLEN BRANAGH
Published on 22/01/2013 00:53

The brother of EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie has told a court he had no recollection of killing her or dismembering her and dumping the body in a canal.

Tony McCluskie said the last thing he remembered was grabbing his sister’s wrists as she wielded a knife at him and threatened to stab him on 1 March last year.

The 35-year-old admits killing Ms McCluskie, but denies murder, saying he has no recollection of what happened after he grabbed her.

Ms McCluskie’s torso was found in a suitcase in theRegent’s Canal in east London, followed by her limbs in
plastic bags. Her head was found six months later.

The 29-year-old, who played Kerry Skinner, the niece of Ethel Skinner, in the BBC soap opera in 2001, was officially identified by dental records.

At her brother’s murder trial at the Old Bailey, the prosecution has said McCluskie bludgeoned his sister to death in the flat they shared in Shoreditch, east London, after a row about an overflowing sink.

McCluskie, 35, yesterday told the jury he had left a tap on
early in the morning of 1 March, 2012, sparking an argument.

The case continues.