FORMER EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie was killed by her brother after a row over an overflowing sink, a court heard.
Tony McCluskie had left taps on at the flat they shared and Miss McCluskie, 29, thought this was the "last straw".
She drove home to ask McCluskie to leave but was never seen alive again, the Old Bailey was told.
Crispin Aylett, QC, prosecuting, said McCluskie killed his sister, cut up her body and dumped it in the Regent's Canal in east London. McCluskie, 35, of Shoreditch, has pled guilty to the manslaughter of his sister but denies murder. He claims to have "blanked out" and has no recollection of killing her, the court heard.
Miss McCluskie played Kerry Skinner, the niece of Ethel Skinner, in the BBC soap in 2001.
Mr Aylett said: "For some time, there had been tension between Miss McCluskie and her brother. To Gemma, this was largely as a result of the defendant's habitual use of cannabis.
"On Thursday, March 1, last year, McCluskie had got up, gone to the bathroom and forgotten the taps were on in the sink.
"Later, while she was out, her friends heard her arguing on the telephone with her brother about what had happened."
He added: "She wanted the defendant to move out."
The trial continues.
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