Gemma McCluskie. Picture: Metropolitan Police

A jury today retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a man who is accused of murdering his sister, Gemma McCluskie.

Tony McCluskie, 35, admits killing his 25-year-old sister, cutting her body up into six pieces and dumping them in the Regent’s Canal.

He told the Old Bailey he cannot remember what happened after claiming Gemma came at him with a knife after he left taps open causing an overflowing sink.

Pot-smoking McCluskie, of Pelter Street, Shoreditch, denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The prosecution alleges he bludgeoned his sister to death in March last year when she told him to leave the flat they shared.

He then led police on a “wild goose chase” pretending to help look for her.

Gemma, who played Kerry Skinner, the niece of Ethel Skinner, in EastEnders in 2001, was officially identified by dental records.

The jury has been sent home for the night.