Her head was found floating in the canal six months later (Image: YOUTUBE)
She was best known for portraying Kerry Skinner in the much-loved BBC soap EastEnders before she vanished from our screens and her life came to a heartbreaking end.
The horrific fate that befell English actress Gemma McCluskie, 29, was far more disturbing than anything her on-screen character ever encountered during her time on the BBC programme.
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McCluskie was a recognisable face on CBBC as a children’s TV presenter on the series No Sweat in 1997, before landing a role in EastEnders. On the soap she portrayed Kerry Skinner from October 2000 to February 2001, a character who was a close friend of Zoe Slater and the niece of the late Ethel Skinner.
Having stepped away from the limelight, she was thrust back into public attention for the most devastating of reasons, when she went missing from her East London flat, where she lived with her brother Tony, on March 1, 2012.
She was last seen at home with her brother that very afternoon, and it was subsequently revealed that she visited a kebab shop at 8pm that evening – but that was the final time she was seen alive.
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Her loved ones organised a search party of up to 100 people who scoured the area extensively on 5th March. The following day, her headless torso was discovered in Regent’s Canal, London, where her brother had disposed of it after killing her.
It was later established that McCluskie had been brutally m:urdered by her brother, who struck her over the head at least twice before dismembering her body into six pieces using both a cleaver and a knife. It was only a week later that more of her remains were recovered, followed by the grim discovery of her limbs inside a plastic bag.
It would take a further six months before her head was found in the water, where her killer brother had disposed of it.
On March 10, Tony McCluskie was charged with her m:urder, appearing before Thames Magistrates’ Court just two days afterwards. The trial got underway the following January, during which the court heard of Tony’s use of cannabis, skunk and window cleaner, which had resulted in him ‘losing control’.
The siblings were known to have frequent rows, and according to Tony, the last thing he could recall from that day was his sister coming at him wielding a knife.
However, the prosecution contended he had killed his sister after losing ‘patience’ when she had asked him to leave the Shoreditch flat the pair shared in east London. This had followed an incident in which he had left taps running, causing a sink to overflow, the jury was told.
Having killed his sister, Tony hauled a heavy suitcase to a local cab firm and was spotted transporting it towards the canal, the Old Bailey heard. During the taxi journey, the driver enquired about the contents of the bag, to which Tony replied that it contained a ‘sound system’.
He was found guilty by an 11-1 majority and handed a life sentence.
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. She was a warm-hearted woman who was loved by a great many people.”
The judge further stated that the crime had been carried out in a “cold-blooded way”, expressing his belief that the perpetrator had hoped “she would never be found”.
Anthony McCluskie, father to both siblings, spoke outside the court about the “extremely traumatic” ordeal he, his family and friends have endured following the devastating m:urder of his daughter. He described her as “small in stature” yet possessing a “huge personality” and an infectious “zest for life”.
The grieving father concluded that his daughter was “very much loved” and “greatly missed”.
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