The sister of film director Jennifer Abbott has been charged with her murder after Ms Abbott was discovered stabbed to death inside her own north London home.
The Metropolitan Police previously said officers were investigating whether the death was linked to a diamond-encrusted Rolex missing from Ms Abbott's home.
The 69-year-old director, who was also known as Sarah Steinberg, who was found dead in her flat in Camden, on June 13, Scotland Yard said.
Nancy Pexton, who is also 69, has been charged with murder and appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Friday. The two women were understood to be sisters, and Pexton is nine months younger than Ms Abbott, the Press Association reports.
Ms Abbott was found by her niece and neighbours, who broke her door down after her family had not heard from her for several days. A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as sharp force trauma.
Neighbours said they regularly saw Ms Abbott walking her corgi in the area. One described her as “exuberant” and “vivacious”.
The Met Police had said detectives were keeping an open mind about the motive for the murder but are appealing for information about a Rolex watch with a distinctive diamond-encrusted face that they believe is missing from Ms Abbott’s apartment.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said her son went to help Ms Abbott's niece and the pair made the harrowing discovery.
“My son broke the door down. We heard her niece shouting: 'Somebody help me, somebody help,' and we went out and asked: 'What's wrong?'” the neighbour said.
“She said: 'I haven't heard from my auntie in four days. Something's wrong – break the door down.'
“I was holding the door open downstairs and my son was upstairs and then I heard her niece screaming and saying: 'Oh my God, she's been murdered.' ”
The film director was born in London in 1967, the daughter of an ambassador, and graduated from the University of Westminster, according to her official biography on IMDb.
Most notably, Abbott directed a feature-length film titled War of the Gods, which won the best documentary prize at the 2009 Swansea Film Festival in Wales.
International business executives have voiced concern about visiting London, even the most high-end areas, for fear their expensive watches will be stolen.
The Met Police has dedicated extra resources to fighting the crime wave. This year the force revealed details of an operation in which undercover officers wearing luxury watches late at night in central London were used as bait to lure robbers, before their colleagues moved in to make arrests.
The criminals include a gang of Algerian thieves operating from North Africa to the UK to carry out lucrative robberies.
