Film director 'killed in her London home for her Rolex'
A film director found murdered in her flat may have been killed for her diamond-encrusted Rolex watch, police have said.
Jennifer Abbott, known professionally as Sarah Steinberg, was discovered in her flat with tape over her mouth when a neighbour helped her concerned niece break down the door.
The 69-year-old was last seen walking her pet corgi in Camden, north London, on June 10 and was found dead three days later.
London has in recent years been hit by a 'Rolex ripper' crime wave which has seen highly organised criminal groups working in the city to snatch luxury watches from victims, often from their wrists but also from their homes.
The Met Police said detectives were keeping an open mind about the possible motive for the murder, but are appealing for information about a Rolex watch with a distinctive diamond encrusted face that they believe is missing from Ms Abbott's apartment.
'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,' said Chief Superintendent Jason Stewart.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said her son went to help Ms Abbott's niece and the pair made the harrowing discovery.
'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?',' the neighbour said.
'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.'
She described Ms Abbott as a 'mysterious, and very smart and intelligent' woman who 'had done a lot of things in her life'.
'She was a doctor but she was also an actor and director in America,' the neighbour said. 'She'd directed a movie and I looked at it on YouTube and saw her interviewed in Los Angeles.'
International business executives have voiced concerns about visiting even the most high-end parts of London for fear their expensive watches will be stolen.
The Met Police have dedicated extra resources to fighting the crime wave and this year revealed details of an operation in which undercover officers wearing luxury watches late at night in central London were used as bait to lure robbers, before their colleagues moved in to make arrests.
The criminals include a gang of Algerian thieves operating from North Africa to the UK to carry out lucrative robberies.
Using background details provided by the Met Police about the Algerian-led gang, court documents and coverage of their trial, as well as speaking to experts, The National was able to piece together how they went about their work and how the booming market in stolen watches drew them to the streets of London.
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Filmmaker Jennifer Abbott was found dead in her London flat, with police saying she might have been killed for her diamond-encrusted Rolex watch. A woman, 66, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder. Abbott, 69, was discovered in her flat with tape over her mouth when a neighbour helped her concerned niece break down the door on June 13. She was last seen alive walking her pet corgi in Camden, north London, on June 10. London has been hit in recent years by a 'Rolex ripper' crime wave, in which highly organised criminal groups operate in the city to snatch luxury watches from victims, often from their wrists but also from their homes. According to her neighbours, Abbott was well-liked, having lived in the area for several years after moving from Los Angeles. Abbott shared many photos of herself with entertainers including actress Kate Hudson, musician George Benson and comedian Dane Cook on her Facebook page. 'She used to live in Beverly Hills,' a neighbour told MailOnline, adding that she moved to London after she 'lost everything'. Another told Metro: 'She was a lovely lady, always so well turned out and lovely to speak to. She was a real character.' The author and filmmaker, also known as Sarah Steinberg, was born in London in 1967, the daughter of an ambassador, and graduated from the University of Westminster, according to her official biography on IMDb. What did Jennifer Abbott direct? Most notably, Abbott directed a feature-length film titled War of the Gods, which won the best documentary prize at the 2009 Swansea Film Festival, which ran from 2006 to 2011 in Wales. The festival boasted Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Sheen among its high-profile supporters and helped to launch the career of Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid, Gangs of London), whose debut feature Footsteps won the top prize at the inaugural event. According to a brochure clipping from a Norwegian film festival posted on Abbott's Facebook account, the film 'explains how political leaders misuse religion to declare war and violence'. The film used archive footage of political figures including Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, former Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion, former US president George W Bush and former UK prime minister Tony Blair, along with interviews. In a speech at a screening in London, Abbott said production was arduous: 'I was arrested, thrown in jail for three days, and the film was confiscated [by Beverly Hills police] for six months, until Bush came out of power.' In 2004, Abbott directed the 10-minute short horror film Temple of Fear, set in Arizona and based on her supernatural horror novel The Other Dimension. According to IMDb and her LinkedIn profile, Abbott tried to adapt the short into a feature-length film starring Christopher Walken, Jason Alexander and Jon Lovitz, but the project did not come to fruition. Her company, Orchid Production, was behind a number of other projects. Literary career In addition to The Other Dimension, She also wrote horror short stories. In 2002, she published a poetry collection called Poems From the Deepest Corner of the Soul. Before that, she wrote a horror novel, The Scream from Within, published in 1995 and 'based on a true story'. 'Married at 11, beaten by her husband and disowned by her family, Sarah was victimised until her soul was devoured with pain. Haunted by a mysterious past, she fled until she was forced to confront her fears. She fought a battle that no one could win in the corrupt society where she thought she belonged. But finally, she freed herself, bought a one-way ticket to the free world and swore never to return,' reads The Scream From Within 's official description. An Amazon reviewer called the book 'Intense, adventurous and utterly emotional experience.' Used copies of the book are currently available.
