Brother of EastEnders actor Gemma McCluskie found guilty of her murder Gemma McCluckie, whose mutilated body was found floating in an east London canal. The brother of former EastEnders actor Gemma McCluskie has been found guilty of her murder. Tony McCluskie was found guilty by an 11-1 majority. He had previously admitted manslaughter. There were gasps and cries in the Old Bailey courtroom as the verdict was given but McCluskie stood emotionless in the dock. Gemma McCluskie's mutilated body was found floating in the Regent's canal in east London. Tony McCluskie, a 36-year-old 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 her coming at him with a knife. But the prosecution said he killed his 29-year-old sister after she lost patience with him and asked him to leave the flat in Pelter Street, Shoreditch, east London, where they both lived. The final straw came when Tony McCluskie left taps running and a sink overflowed in March last year. She was killed by being hit over the head at least twice, Her body was hacked into six pieces using a cleaver and a knife. The next day, Tony McCluskie lugged a heavy suitcase to a local cab firm and was last seen taking it towards the canal. Gemma McCluskie's torso was found a week later when the case snapped open, and her limbs were found in black bags a week later. But her head was not found for six months when it too was discovered in the water. Gemma McCluskie, who played Kerry Skinner, the niece of Ethel Skinner, in the BBC soap in 2001, was immediately missed. She was last seen attending the £650m opening of the new Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London. Tony McCluskie joined friends who launched extensive searches across east London to find her. Former EastEnders co-stars Natalie Cassidy and Brooke Kinsella both appealed on Twitter for help. Gemma McCluskie's friend, Nicole McLaren, said she hugged Tony McCluskie because she felt sorry for him as they searched for her. But, said Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, Tony McCluskie sent police on a wild goose chase after the actor was reported missing. Gemma told a friend: 'He's permanently stoned. He puts a spliff in his mouth first thing in the morning and doesn't know what he's doing'. On Thursday March 1 last year, McCluskie had got up, gone to the bathroom and forgotten the taps were on in the sink. Aylett said the next day Tony McCluskie sent his sister a text pretending she was still alive and ending: "Love ya xx." Gemma McCluskie was identified by a small tattoo of a bow on her body and later by dental records. Tony McCluskie told police that his sister was seen in a local kebab shop after she went missing, and that she had visited their mother in hospital. But scientists found blood in the bathroom and a blood-stained knife in the kitchen of the flat. The court heard that Tony McCluskie received a series of hoax telephone calls following his sister's disappearance. In the first call, the defendant was told that if he wanted to see his sister again he must take £2m to Benfleet International station. A second call was made requesting that he also bring $500-worth of Iraqi currency, before a third hoax call repeated the demand for £2m. When the defendant asked to speak to his sister, the caller said Gemma McCluskie had been stripped of her clothes and was being kept in a locked room. "The truth is that the defendant could not have believed his luck," Aylett said. The calls can only have added to the state of confusion as to Gemma's whereabouts. Police later traced the telephone calls to an address in Kent and arrested a man. Tony McCluskie told the court: "She came up the stairs, she was shouting: 'Are you gonna go, are you gonna go, are you gonna go?'. I turned round and she was standing there with a knife in her hand. I got very angry, I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. After that I have no recollection.