Gemma McCluskie

The 35-year-old brother of EastEnders actress Gemma McClusky appeared at the Old Bailey this morning charged with her murder.

Tony McCluskie, of Pelter Street, Bethnal Green, is accused of killing the 29-year-old before dumping her body in a canal.

Dressed in a grey sweat-shirt and red tabard he spoke only to confirm his name during a brief hearing before the Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont QC.

Mr McCluskie did not enter a plea to the murder charge and his barrister, Tammy Sher, did not make an application for bail.

He will be remanded in custody and next appear in court for a plea and case management hearing on June 18.

Miss McCluskie, who lived with her brother Tony and ill mother Pauline, went missing just hours after she attended the opening of The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel on March 1.

Her headless torso was discovered in a stretch of the Regent’s Canal near Broadway Marker in Hackney five days later after a barge owner called the police.

The body was later confirmed to be that of Ms McCluskie but a postmortem was unable to establish the cause of death and further tests are being carried out.

The actress appeared in more than 30 episodes of the BBC soap opera as teenage temptress Kerry Skinner in 2001.

Former EastEnders co-stars Natalie Cassidy and Brooke Kinsella both appealed on Twitter for help in finding her.