Manhunt as woman, 69, murdered at home ‘for diamond encrusted Rolex watch' near Regent's Park
Detectives believe a woman found murdered in her home near Regent's Park may have been targeted for her diamond encrusted Rolex watch.
Jennifer Abbott, 69, was discovered in Mornington Place, Camden, central London, at 6pm on Friday.
Ms Abbott walked her Corgi dog on most days near the address a short distance from London Zoo. She had been popular in the enclave where homes sell for over £10 million.
Metropolitan Police officers were called by London Ambulance Service who attended and sadly pronounced her dead at the scene.
They suspect a luxury timepiece may be missing from her address. The killer is still at large.
A post-mortem examination took place on Sunday and gave cause of death as sharp force trauma.
A spokesman said: 'The watch has a distinctive diamond encrusted watch face.
'Police are also appealing for anyone who may have information regarding the whereabouts of her Rolex watch.
Ms Abbott previously worked in the creative industries and was also known professionally as Sarah Steinberg.
The last known sighting of her had been on the morning of Tuesday June 10, three days before she was found.
Her family are aware and will continue to receive support from specialist officers.
Detectives are keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the incident.
At this stage, there have been no arrests.
Chief Superintendent Jason Stewart, who leads policing in Camden, 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.
'Extra patrols continue in the area while my officers remain at the crime scene. I would urge anyone who has any information, or who may be worried, to speak to them.'
London Ambulance Service said: 'We were called to reports of an incident at 5.47pm on Friday, June 13 in Mornington Place, NW1.
'We sent an ambulance crew but, sadly, a woman was pronounced dead at the scene.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Police say ‘crucial clue' could be key to death of woman stabbed at home
Police investigating the death of a 69-year-old woman found stabbed in her north London home fear her killing could be linked to the theft of her diamond-encrusted Rolex watch. Jennifer Abbott, also known as Sarah Steinberg, was discovered fatally injured at her Mornington Place residence in Camden on June 13. She had last been seen three days earlier, on June 10, walking her pet Corgi in the local area. An ambulance crew was called to her home around 6pm on June 13, where she was pronounced dead at the scene. The potential connection between her death and the missing valuable timepiece remains a key line of inquiry for investigators. A post-mortem examination was carried out on Sunday June 15 and gave cause of death as sharp force trauma. Chief Superintendent 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. 'Extra patrols continue in the area while my officers remain at the crime scene. 'I would urge anyone who has any information, or who may be worried, to speak to them.' Anyone with information can call police on 101 or message @MetCC on X, giving the reference 6470/13JUN. To remain anonymous contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or online.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Race and lack of accountability involved in Child Q strip search, tribunal hears
Race and lack of accountability are at the heart of why and how a 15 year-old black girl was strip-searched at school by police after being wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis was handled, a misconduct hearing has been told. The degree of failures surrounding the 'grossly disproportionate search', allegedly without an appropriate adult present, meant the Metropolitan Police officers did not look to protect a potentially vulnerable child, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). Their actions could possibly undermine public trust and confidence in the police, the IOPC warned. The girl, known as Child Q, was strip searched by officers in Hackney, east London, on December 3 2020. She arrived for a mock exam smelling of cannabis and was taken to the medical room to be strip-searched while teachers remained outside. This involved the removal of her clothing including underwear, her bending over and having to expose intimate parts of her body while she was menstruating, the panel heard. Trainee detective constable (TDC) Kristina Linge, Pc Victoria Wray and Pc Rafal Szmydynski, who were all police constables at the time, all deny gross misconduct over their treatment of the girl. In closing submissions Elliot Gold, for the IOPC, said discrimination is not the sole ground the panel needs to consider, but added: 'The issue of race provides you with the only explanation that is left as to why the officers' failures were so great and why so much went wrong and the only explanation as to why it all went so badly.' He told the tribunal panel in south-east London, who could consider sacking the officers if gross misconduct is proved: 'The resolution of this case should primarily be forward-facing. 'It is about preventing similar misconduct from recurring in the future, with the consequent damage to trust and confidence in the police, especially within the black community, which these events have caused.' He added: 'This case shows, that members of racial groups need protection from conduct driven by unrecognised or unconscious bias as much as from conscious and deliberate discrimination.' Mr Gold also noted 'there are almost no contemporaneous documents or records of this case – why? That's because it is the officers who failed to make them.' No drugs were found by the teachers before the school's safeguarding deputy called police. They were called amid fears Child Q could have been carrying drugs for someone, being exploited or groomed in the community – which meant it was a safeguarding issue for her and other school pupils. Mr Gold said 'there is a potential evidential conflict as to whether the teachers were insistent there should be a search'. He added: 'There may be criticism of the school calling the police for advice on a safeguarding matter but that shows they did not know what to do, rather than being insistent (on a search) it shows uncertainty.' Child Q's mother, who was described as a 'supportive' parent, was not present during the strip search and neither was any appropriate adult. Mr Gold said that 'simply being questioned by two police officers, two white police officers for a young black girl may be daunting.' Mr Gold said: 'No adult was present to assist child Q during this time – whether during the conversation with child to decide on the search, when the decision was made to perform a search or when the decision was made to perform a strip search.' PC Linge told Child Q she would be arrested if she failed to consent to being searched, the panel heard. Child Q told the two officers who searched her that she was menstruating, but the search continued during which her sanitary pad was exposed, the panel was told. When no drugs were found after the strip search, Child Q's hair was also scoured. When Child Q said she was on her period this was 'a new piece of evidence' for the officers and it was a chance for the officers to consider the proportionality of what they were doing, according to the IOPC. Within days of the strip search, Child Q had gone to her doctor with symptoms of anxiety. Mr Gold went through a series of doctors' notes including one which suggested Child Q had the 'appearance of symptoms of anxiety consistent with PTSD'. He added: 'No one is likely to suggest that Child Q was anything other than distressed and shaken by a traumatic episode.' According to the allegations, Pcs Linge and Szmydynski performed a search that exposed the girl's intimate parts when this was 'disproportionate in all the circumstances'. Pcs Linge and Wray are also accused of performing or allowing the search in a manner which was 'unjustified, inappropriate, disproportionate, humiliating and degrading'. It is alleged that all of this happened without authorisation, in the absence of an appropriate adult, and with no adequate concern being given to Child Q's age, sex, or the need to treat her as a child, and that the child's race was an effective cause of this. Pcs Szmydynski and Linge are further accused of giving a 'misleading record' of the search afterwards. Outrage over Child Q's treatment led to protests outside Stoke Newington Police Station. Scotland Yard has previously apologised over the incident.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Woman found stabbed with tape over her mouth may have been killed for her Rolex
A 69-year-old woman found murdered in her flat with tape over her mouth was discovered when a neighbour helped her concerned niece break down the door. Jennifer Abbott, also known as Sarah Steinberg, was last seen walking her pet corgi in Camden, north London, on June 10. She was found fatally injured three days later. An ambulance crew was called to her home in Mornington Place, Camden, 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 harrowing discovery. Investigators fear she may have been killed for her diamond-encrusted Rolex. Her pet Corgi had been shut in the bathroom for three days but survived. The neighbour said: '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?' 'She said: 'I haven't heard from my aunty 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'. She had tape across her mouth. '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'. '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.' The neighbour said that drug users sit in doorways in the area including near Ms Abbott's flat. Police said a post-mortem examination was carried out on Sunday and gave cause of death as sharp force trauma. Chief Superintendent 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. 'Extra patrols continue in the area while my officers remain at the crime scene. 'I would urge anyone who has any information, or who may be worried, to speak to them.' Anyone with information can call police on 101 or message @MetCC on X, giving the reference 6470/13JUN. To remain anonymous contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or online.