Film director killed in her home ‘for diamond Rolex'
A film director was killed in her own home in a stabbing police fear may have been carried out in order to steal her diamond Rolex watch.
Jennifer Abbott, 69, was found injured at her house in Camden, north London, on June 13. She had last been seen three days earlier, walking her pet corgi.
Police have now appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Neighbours said Ms Abbott, who was known professionally as Sarah Steinberg, was found with stab wounds after her niece became concerned for her welfare.
An ambulance crew was called to her home in Mornington Place at around 6pm on June 13 and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said her son went out to help Ms Abbott's niece and the pair made the discovery.
Investigators fear she may have been killed for her diamond-encrusted Rolex. Her corgi had been shut in the bathroom for three days but survived.
The neighbour said: 'My son broke the door down. She [her niece] said: 'I haven't heard from my auntie in four days. Something's wrong – break the door down'.
'Her corgi was locked in the bathroom for three days. That poor dog, he couldn't even drink any water, it's amazing he was even still alive.'
She said her neighbour was 'mysterious, and very smart and intelligent', adding: 'We would chat in the street most of the time. I used to walk around the block with her with her dog,' she said.
'I can't believe we won't see her walking the corgi any more. She was very exuberant, very vivacious. She had done a lot of things in her life. She was a doctor, but she was also an actor and director in America. She'd directed a movie, and I looked at it on YouTube and saw her interviewed in Los Angeles.
'She was a character. She was lovely. You're never going to see her again, and you just can't take it in. I said to my son, 'I can't believe we were sitting here in the living room, maybe watching television, while she was over there going through that and we didn't know.'
'Shopping centre for drugs'
Ibeta Rostas, a retired cleaner, has lived on the road for 15 years with her husband Irnest Rostas, 55.
She said she had not seen Ms Abbott for a week before she was found.
'Everybody is scared now,' the 56-year-old said. 'Her niece found her. She came here after.
'She had called her many times and didn't answer. She had a bad feeling. She came and with a neighbour, broke the door down.'
Mr Rostas, a retired painter, added: 'It is not a safe area here. It is a shopping centre for drugs.
'We see the homeless with the drugs but they are not here now – since the police are here, it has stopped. They would break our door down and sleep downstairs. They would use it as a toilet.'
The Metropolitan Police said a post-mortem examination was carried out on Sunday and gave cause of death as sharp force trauma.
Chief Supt Jason Stewart said: 'We are working closely with our colleagues in the homicide team to establish exactly what happened and it's incredibly important that we hear from anyone who may have knowledge about how this awful death occurred.
'Were you out in Camden on Friday? Perhaps you had been coming home from work, or at an event nearby? Did you see or hear anything around Mornington Place that struck you as being unusual? Someone must have seen or heard something and no piece of information is too small. It could be the crucial clue that leads us to identify Jennifer's murderer.'
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