Severed head recovered from Regent's Canal where decapitated remains of former EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie were found

Regents Canal in Hackney near where Gemma McCluskie's body was discovered on March 7, 2012 in London (GETTY IMAGES)

A severed head has been discovered in the canal where the butchered torso of Eastenders actress Gemma McCluskie was found earlier this year.

The grim find comes seven months after the 29-year-old’s headless and limbless body was discovered floating in the same stretch of Regent’s Canal near Hackney, East London.

Police would not be drawn on whether the head belonged to the murdered actress, whose brother Tony, 35, is currently on remand waiting to stand trial accused of her murder, but confirmed that it was found by a member of public close to where Miss McCluskie’s torso was discovered.

Miss McCluskie, who played Kerry Skinner in more than 30 episodes of Eastenders, had been missing for a week after attending the £650 million opening of the new Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London.

She was last seen returning to the home in Pelter Street, Hackney, that she shared with her brother and the elderly mother to whom she acted as a carer.

Friends launched extensive searches across east London in a bid to find her, and former EastEnders co-stars Natalie Cassidy and Brooke Kinsella both appealed for help on Twitter.

However, a week later Miss McCluskie’s torso was found floating in the Regent’s Canal, close to Hackney’s famous Broadway Market.