Murder accused texted sister 'karma is coming'

An Old Bailey jury has heard how a woman accused of murdering her sister sent her abusive texts and warned that "karma was coming".

Nancy Pexton, 70, denies killing film producer and documentary director Jennifer Abbott who was found dead in her flat in Camden, north London, on 13 June last year.

She was discovered on the floor of her living room with a slashed throat and gaffer tape covering her mouth after a neighbour broke down the door.

Pexton was arrested five days later, when her sister's Rolex watch was found in her bag.

The court heard evidence from Abbott's son Brad Carlson who spoke to the hearing via video-link from Spain.

Under questioning by prosecuting counsel William Boyce KC, Carlson said his mother had health problems, but had enjoyed success as an author and a filmmaker in the early 2000s.

Abbott made a documentary called War of the Gods which won awards and wrote a book, Scream from Within, which was published and made into a short film, he told the court.

"She was an inspiration and a motivation," said Carlson, who related how Abbott had brought him up in the US as a single mother, waitressing, managing a bar and then making money in property ventures.

He told the court a credit crunch hit US investors between 2008 and 2010 that "turned mortgages upside down" (in negative equity) and his mother had lost her home.

But she had managed to finance his education through a master's degree, and he told the court he had bought her a $4,000 Rolex watch as a thank you while on a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona.

"She has never indicated to me that she would part with it. It was very sentimental to her.

"She was the greatest mother in the world to me. I wanted to surprise her."

The Old Bailey heard how the Rolex was found in a search of Pexton's possessions after Abbott was found dead.

The jury was shown printouts of texts between the two women which were alleged to have been sent in 2023, two years before the killing.

The messages seemed to show the two women falling out, with Pexton claiming her sister was ungrateful for the support she had shown her through the illnesses that came to dominate her sister's life.

In the interchanges Pexton said she had spent time "providing lunches and fighting doctors" for her sister.

One expletive-filled message described Abbott as a "drug addict" and "karma is coming for you... you're dead to me... you get what you deserve".

In another text message Pexton is alleged to have told her nephew Carlson that she was "so angry with Jenny, she lies a lot. I spent my last pennies on her.

"How could she be broke if she can pay thousands for a dog and order food every day? She likes using people."

Carlson said he "wanted people to get along" and encouraged the pair to "make peace".

He added: "I, at times, was very honest with my mother. I asked my mother to be more gentle and sometimes more careful in her words. Sometimes people need to be treated more gently."

He added that he felt "empathy" and "love" for Pexton.

The defendant, of no fixed address, denies murder and the trial continues.

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