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.
