The brother of EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie told police she was staying with a friend after killing and dismembering her, the Old Bailey heard today (weds).

Tony McCluskie, 35, accused of killing former EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie, said he was unconcerned about the disappearance of his sister, and delayed telling her family for days after she vanished.

He is alleged to have killed the 29-year-old actress on March 1 last year before chopping up her body with a meat cleaver and dumping it in the nearby Regent’s Canal the following day.

Prosecutors claim he exploded in a rage after she threatened to throw him out of the home they shared after a furious row about his cannabis smoking.

But in a missing person’s report filed the following day, Tony McCluskie told police he had been waiting for her to return home from work as normal.

The document, written by officers at Bethnal Green police station was read to jurors in his murder trial.

It read: “Tony waited to see if Gemma would come home to get ready for work and didn’t contact other family members until March 3 when she had not come home from work.

“Since then the family have contacted Gemma’s work and were told by her boss that she didn’t come into work on March 1.

“Gemma always has her phone switched on and has never done anything like this before.

“Her brother thought she had stayed at a friends house on March 1, which is why her brother wasn’t concerned.”

The flat the siblings shared in Pelter Street, Bethnal Green, was searched, but Gemma was deemed to be ‘low risk’, the court heard.

The report continues: “There is nothing to say anything has happened to Gemma but her family are concerned as this is out of character.’

But it concluded: “Although out of character, the subject is an adult.”

Gemma’s torso was found inside a suitcase floating in the Regent’s Canal shortly afterwards.

Her arms and legs were recovered separately over the next two weeks but her head was not discovered until September.

McCluskie, of Pelter Street, Bethnal Green, admits manslaughter but denies murder, claiming he ‘lost control’ during an argument and cannot remember anything.

The trial continues.