Tony McCluskie, accused of murdering his sister EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie, today told the Old Bailey that his sister called him a ‘f***ing c**t’ after he left the tap on in the bathroom sink.

He said: “The basin had just begun to overflow and there was a small amount of water, most of which went on the bathroom rug,

“She said that I was out of my nut, that I was a junkie, that I should be more careful and it was our mum’s house and if I can’t look after it I should go.

“I remember being very, very apologetic. I was wrong. I said I would clean it up.”

But later that day (on March 1 of last year) Gemma phoned him and told him she had made up her mind that she wanted him out of the house, the court heard.

Tony added: “I told her I wouldn’t be leaving. I had nowhere else to go plus I had no reason to go. There was no damage to the bathroom, she was just making a big deal of things.”

When she returned home at just before 2pm she started “screaming and shouting” at him again and suggested he go and stay with his ex-girlfriend, the court heard.

Tony said: “She just wanted me out the house. She threatened to call the police. I said she was making a big deal about things.”

Tony McCluskie said he suggested his sister come upstairs with him to see the bathroom.

“I turned the light on in the bathroom, I proceeded to call my sister. She came upstairs, shouting ‘’Are you gonna go, are you gonna go?’’

“I turned around and she was standing there with a knife in her hand.

“When she asked me to get out she said if I don’t get out she was going to stab me, stab my partner and have her son taken into care.

“I got very angry. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. All I remember is grabbing her wrists. I can remember I bent her wrists to drop the knife to the floor. After that I have no memory at all.

“Even now I lay there all day trying to work out what happened, all the questions from my family they deserve to know. I need to know how I could do such a thing.

“I accept what I have done is wrong. I take responsibility for what I have done to my sister but it was never my intention to cause her serious harm let alone cause her death.”

He said his next memory was looking after his son on Saturday morning.

Tony also claimed that he had no idea what had happened to his sister and denied pretending to be worried about her.

He added: “I was deeply concerned and worried. That’s why I went to the police station so I could report her missing. I would have done anything in my power to find my sister.”

His barrister Jeremy Dein QC asked: “Did it dawn on you that you were responsible for Gemma’s death?”

Tony McCluskie replied: “Not in a million years.”

The trial continues tomorrow (TUES).