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Jennifer Abbott Dauward was found with multiple stab wounds at her Camden flat
A woman fatally stabbed her film director sister in the neck and snatched her diamond-encrusted gold Rolex watch, the Old Bailey has heard.
Nancy Pexton, 69, is accused of murdering her older sibling, Jennifer Abbott Dauward - also known as Sarah Steinberg - at her flat in Mornington Place, Camden, north London, on 10 June.
Three days later, a neighbour forced open Abbott's door after becoming concerned he could not hear her corgi barking.
Abbott's body was found on her living room floor with a wound to her neck and gaffer tape over her mouth. She was not wearing her Rolex watch which she was "greatly attached to" and never usually took off, jurors were told.
Opening the case on Thursday, prosecutor Bill Boyce KC said there was no evidence that Abbott was alive after Pexton visited her that day.
The sisters had spoken by phone at 11:36 BST, Pexton had travelled by bus to her sister's flat at 12:45 BST and stayed for an hour.
After allegedly killing her 69-year-old sister, who was nine months older than her, Pexton called her GP and said she had taken an overdose, Boyce told the court.
She was taken to hospital by ambulance where she stayed before her arrest on 18 June.
Boyce told jurors: "She said she could not remember what had happened in the previous 90 minutes, which was the period we say she was undoubtedly in her sister's flat, the period we say she murdered her sister."
Jurors heard that Abbott's body was found at her flat on the afternoon of 13 June.
The victim's niece, Mai Pexton, had gone to the property and banged on the door, screaming for her "auntie".
A neighbour broke down the door because he could not hear Abbott's corgi barking, which he found unusual, the court heard.
He called emergency services after discovering Abbott's body on the floor.
Abbott's corgi had been locked in the bathroom and was freed by firefighters, Boyce said.
Boyce told the court Abbott usually wore a Cartier bracelet and gold diamond encrusted Rolex watch of "real sentimental value".
The watch was later discovered when police searched Pexton's bag, Boyce said.
The defendant allegedly responded: "Oh yes, that's my sister's. She asked me to look after it."
A post-mortem examination found Abbott had sustained a number of stab and slash wounds and a single defensive wound to the right hand.
Boyce said the central issue in the case was whether Pexton, who has two adult daughters, was responsible for killing her sister.
Pexton, of no fixed address, denies murder. The trial continues.
