An EastEnders actress went missing, and what followed was a story of betrayal and lies from one of her own family, and the case is being revisited in a true crime documentary tonight
EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie went missing in March 2012 after playing Kerry Skinner in the BBC soap between 2000 and 2001, and a widescale search began for the missing star.
Tragically, a few days after her last sighting, a headless torso was discovered in a canal. Sadly, the worst nightmare for Gemma’s family and friend had come true: she had been horrifyingly murdered, before being chopped up and her remains were then thrown into the canal. Her body was quickly identified thanks to a distinctive tattoo on her torso, but head, arms and legs were missing. Some six months later, her head was discovered.
Her brutal murder is being revisited on ITV as part of a true crime series called Murder In The Family: True Crime Presents. Family and friends were horrified to discover that it was Gemma’s own brother who had killed her.
It is thought that Tony was incredible jealous of Gemma, after she secured a place at drama school, before landing the role of Kerry in EastEnders at just 17 years old. She later cared for her mum, who had a brain tumour, and carried the financia burden.
Tony was less successful, with sporadic employment and smoking cannabis “from morn ing until night”. He was never seen as violent, so initially didn’t come under suspicion from detectives following Gemma’s disappearance.
Psychologists who have looked at the case think that Tony was incensed by jealousy over his sister’s success. It also emerged that poor Gemma was “petrified” of Tony and had suffered 20 years of abuse at his hands.
Gemma’s other brother Danny explained what happened when she went missing, recalling: “On the Sunday morning, me and a friend met up with Tony and got some pictures developed of Gemma. We took them down to Bethnal Green Police Station.”
Tony apparently behaved completely normally, helping search parties and comforting family members. When Gemma’s torso was found, Danny remembers Tony’s actions: “Out of nowhere he walks in and puts his arms round us and he starts saying, ‘Please don’t let it be Gemma.’ I’ll never forget it.”
Danny remember pleading with a police officer: “I turned round and went to the police officer, I said, ‘You’d better catch whoever did this’. And he kept saying to me, ‘I promise, we’ll catch him, we’ll catch him’.”
“That broke me,” he confessed, before recalling how he had to break the news to their mother: “I ended up breaking down, crying. I was just overwhelmed. I’ve just found out it was my sister and now I’ve had to go and break the news to my mother. She’s laying there in hospital, you know, she’s just had a big operation.”
Danny confronted Tony: “I said to him, ‘You look me in the eye and you put your hand on your heart you ain’t done this to my sister?’ And he just said to me, ‘The police are fitting me up’.”
The court later heard Tony murdered Gemma during an argument while he was high. She had ordered him to leave after he flooded their bathroom.
He cruelly attacked Gemma with a blunt object, leading her to die from a cerebral haemorrhage. He tried to sever her limbs with a knife, and when that failed he managed to get a meat cleaver, bin liners, and cleaning products.
To try and cover his tracks, he sent a text from his sister’s phone saying: “Morning, sorry crashed out last night. Woke up too late to get back to you. Feeling a bit better today.”
He then sent a message from his phone to Gemma’s phone, trying to cover his tracks: “Hi Gem, letting you know I’m at the hospital. Mum is doing really good and the doctors are pleased with her. Going to look at the throat and swallowing today. Love ya xx.”
He forced her remains into a suitcase and took it in a taxi to throw it in the canal. Danny couldn’t believe it when Tony was arrested: “My head was all over the place, you know. It was like, this ain’t right. I phoned the police and I said to them, ‘You’d better show me some evidence it’s him, otherwise he’s in that jail, he’s in that jail suffering’.”
It was only when Danny saw CCTV footage of Tony loading the suitcase into a minicab that he believed it: “I just thought, I wanna smash his face in. Because he was guilty.”
Tony tried to claim he had suffered loss of composure and blackouts after tensions with his girlfriend. He even blamed poor Gemma, saying she attacked him with a knife.
He claimed he couldn’t remember what happened. A furious Danny said: “I’m just thinking, is this geezer for real?” On January 30, 2013, Tony was found guilty, and was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Tony was disowned by his family. Danny said of Tony: “He took her life away. She didn’t even hit 30 years old, she didn’t get married, she didn’t have kids, he took all that away from her.”
Watch Murder In The Family: True Crime Presents – Gemma McCluskie on Friday, 7 March at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
