Gemma McCluskie trial: Court hears how actress’s body was cut into six pieces

Thursday, January 17, 2013
2:31 PM

Gemma McCluskie’s dad walked out of court today as details were given about how her brother hacked her body into six pieces.

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Tony McCluskie in the dock at the Old Bailey. Picture: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire

Tony McCluskie senior had sat through most of the evidence but decided to leave as further details were given about how she was cut up.

Son Tony McCluskie, 35, admits killing the 29-year-old former EastEnders actress in March last year but claims he has no memory of it.

Gemma’s torso was found in a suitcase in the Regent’s Canal in east London, followed by her limbs in plastic bags.

Her head turned up six months later and she was officially identified by dental records.

The prosecution said pot-smoking McCluskie bludgeoned his sister to death in the flat they shared after a row about an overflowing sink.

Professor Sue Black, an expert on dismemberment from the University of Dundee, said her bones had 95 marks where they had been cut or hacked.

She said the killer had used a knife but switched to a meat cleaver when he was not successful, and also told the court that it would have taken an experienced person an hour but anyone else could have taken up to three hours or more.

Pathologist Dr Simon Poole told the court Gemma died from being hit over the head with an object such as a bat.

She also had a number of bruises on her body from before she died.

Some looked like finger marks from someone grabbing her.

McCluskie, of Pelter Street, Shoreditch, east London, denies murder at the Old Bailey.

Gemma played Kerry Skinner, the niece of Ethel Skinner, in the BBC soap in 2001.

The trial was adjourned to tomorrow.