Legal News

News In The Press Reported Cases Legal News

Home

Legal NewsLegal News

Legal News

Brother of Gemma McCluskie found guilty of her murder (31 January 2013)

Date: 31/01/2013

Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Brother of Gemma McCluskie found guilty of her murder

Gemma McCluskie’s brother Tony McCluskie has been found guilty of her murder and was told that he would serve at least 20 years in jail. He was found guilty by an 11-1 majority and given a life sentence.
The 36 year old, brother of former EastEnderes actress had admitted manslaughter at the Old Bailey but denied he murdered her.
Miss McCluskie’s severed torso was found in Regent’s Canal, Hackney in east London on 6 last March and her other body parts were found later.
Her death occurred due to blows to her head and subsequently her body was hacked into six pieces using a cleaver and a knife.
McCluskie, a window cleaner and skunk cannabis smoker, claimed to have lost control after a tirade of abuse from his sister. He said the last thing he remembered was his sister coming at him with a knife.
The siblings were not on good terms and there were occasional squabbling due to his wayward behaviour and eventually after an incident when he left taps running and a sink overflowing her patience ran out and she asked him to leave the flat in Pelter Street, Shoreditch where they lived the jury was told.
The Old Bailey heard that on 2 March McCluskie lugged a heavy suitcase to a local cab firm and was seen taking it towards the canal. When the cab driver asked what was in his bag the defendant said it was a sound system.
The torso of the actress was found a week later when the case broke open and her limbs were found in plastic bags a week later. But her head was discovered only after six months later in the water.
After her disappearance her co-stars Natalie Cassidy and Brooke Kinsella had appealed for help on Twitter to find her.
Mr Justice Fulford told McCluskie that he had no doubt that McCluskie had killed his sister because she was furious with him for letting a sink overflow in the bathroom.
The judge added that he had no doubt that McCluskie’s account, that she had used bad language towards him or that she had belittled him in the past was a lie.
The judge described that the victim was a warm hearted woman who was loved by a great many people and that she was murdered by McCluskie in a cold blooded way to conceal what he had done. The judge said the offender was under a hope that she would never be found.