The brother of the former EastEnders actress found dead in a canal has admitted he killed her, the Old Bailey heard today.

Tony McCluskie, 35, now faces a trial to determine whether Gemma McCluskie’s death was murder or manslaughter, a judge said.

Miss McCluskie vanished in March after attending the £650million opening of the new Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London.

Victim: Tony McCluskie, 35, will now face trial on the issue of whether Gemma McCluskie’s (pictured) death was murder or manslaughter

A week later her butchered torso was found floating in the Regent’s Canal, close to Hackney’s famous Broadway Market.

The 29-year-old’s head was discovered in the Canal seven months later on September 9.

But the trial was today moved to January 14 next year. McCluskie, who appeared by videolink, was remanded in custody at the Old Bailey.

Miss McCluskie played Kerry Skinner in the BBC soap in 2001.

The part was her only high-profile acting role and it is thought more recently she may have been acting as a carer for her elderly mother, who lived with her and her ex-builder brother.

Friends launched extensive searches across east London in a bid to find her and former EastEnders co-stars Natalie Cassidy and Brooke Kinsella both appealed on Twitter for help.