A woman has been charged with murder after a film director was found stabbed to death in her north London home.
Nancy Pexton – of Gloucester Place, Westminster – was charged on Friday with the murder of Jennifer Abbott, who was found dead at her home in Mornington Place in Camden.
It is understood the two women were sisters.
Pexton, aged 69, has been remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court later on Friday.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to the late film director’s home at 6pm last Friday after being alerted to reports that a woman was unresponsive.
Abbott, aged 69, was found with stab wounds and later pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Detectives previously linked Abbott’s death to a Rolex watch which was allegedly missing from her home.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as sharp force trauma.
Originally from Arizona, Abbott had studied Arts and Sciences at Merton Technical College in southwest London before moving to Los Angeles to become a film producer.
Her LinkedIn states she was the chief executive of Atlantis Rising Productions, and has also authored several novels.
Photographs from her social media show her posing with a range of different celebrities, including socialite Paris Hilton and actress Kate Hudson.
A neighbour previously described the late 69-year-old as “mysterious, and very smart and intelligent”, telling the PA news agency: “I can’t believe we won’t see her walking [her] 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.”
In a statement issued on Friday, the Metropolitan Police said: “A woman has been charged with murder following a death in Camden.
“Nancy Pexton, 69 ... of Gloucester Place, Westminster was charged on Friday 20 June. She is remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Friday 20 June.
“Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at [6pm] on Friday 13 June to a report of an unresponsive woman at her home in Mornington Place, Camden.
“Officers attended and found a woman with stab injuries. She was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. She was identified as 69-year-old Jennifer Abbott.
“Her next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.”
