Nancy Pexton Guilty of Taking the Life of Sister Jennifer Abbott, As Rolex Discovery Raises Questions

As details from the Old Bailey trial emerged, the case exposed not only the chilling sequence of events on 10 June 2025, but also the deeply fractured relationship that ultimately turned fatal.

When a north London neighbour could no longer hear the dog in a nearby flat barking, he made a decision that would expose one of the most startling cases to reach the Old Bailey in recent memory.

Nancy Pexton, 69 at the time, has been found guilty of ending the life of her sister, Jennifer Abbott, also known as Sarah Steinberg, at Abbott's flat in Mornington Place, Camden, on 10 June 2025. Abbott was a film director and just nine months older than Pexton at the time of her passing.

The last confirmed sighting of Abbott alive came from a doorbell camera, which captured her returning home after walking her corgi, Prince, at around 07:30 BST on the morning of the incident.

Pexton called her sister by phone at 11:36 that morning, then travelled to the Mornington Place flat by bus, arriving at 12:45, and departing approximately an hour later. Shortly afterwards, she contacted her GP, reported having taken too much medication, and was taken to hospital.

What investigators then found on Pexton's own phone cast that resentment in a far darker light.

Abbott was found on 13 June after a concerned neighbour grew alarmed once he noticed he could no longer hear Prince barking. He used a scaffolding pole to break down her front door and discovered her on the living room floor with gaffer tape covering her mouth.

The film director's corgi had been shut in the kitchen and was subsequently freed by firefighters. A post-mortem examination confirmed she had sustained multiple wounds, including cuts and slashes to her body, along with a single defensive wound to her right hand.

The Rolex was the detail that changed everything. Abbott's diamond-encrusted gold watch, a gift from her son that she reportedly never removed, was found to be missing from the flat.

When authorities visited Pexton in hospital, they recovered the watch from her bag. It was that discovery, the Old Bailey heard, that led to her formal detention on 18 June, five days after Abbott was found.

In the two days that followed her passing, Abbott's son, Brad Carlson, who lives abroad, tried to reach his mother repeatedly, but his calls went unanswered. He later gave evidence via video-link and described a relationship marked by long-standing tension between the two women. He said:

"There was interaction and sometimes anger and hostility between my mother and Nancy; there was resentment seemingly bubbling up."

What investigators then found on Pexton's own phone cast that resentment in a far darker light. In a series of notes, she had written about wanting to end the life of her "evil" sister, and had expressed further grievances about other members of the family.

Pexton, of no fixed address, denied any wrongdoing throughout the proceedings and declined to give evidence, choosing to appear in court via video-link from Bronzefield Prison. Following the guilty verdict, Judge Anuja Dhir KC adjourned sentencing to Friday.

Prosecutor Devi Kharran of the Crown Prosecution Service said Pexton had committed a "brutal and callous" act on a sister who "should have been able to trust" her. "Despite her repeated denials, the evidence presented in court by the prosecution all pointed to one clear conclusion," Kharran said.

In the wake of the verdict, reaction on social media reflected shock and revulsion. "Vicious, evil and sick individual," one person wrote. Another commented, "This is horrible. Not only to kill your own sister, but also because of some stupid watch."

A third added, "I've never heard such madness in my life," while a fourth responded, "That is shocking!!!" One reader observed, "She must have been wanting to do that for years 😮."

As the case moves towards sentencing, the court's findings have laid bare a chilling narrative — one in which familial trust eroded over time, ultimately giving way to lethal violence driven by resentment, grievance, and what prosecutors argued was a calculated intent to take someone's life.