A jury has found Clifton George, 45, guilty of murdering his partner Annabel Rook, 46, after a gas explosion destroyed their £1.4million home in east London.
An electrician who stabbed a judge's daughter to death in a frenzied rage before blowing up their home in a gas explosion was today found guilty of murder.
Clifton George, 45, killed his partner Annabel Rook, 46, by stabbing her 31 times during a row at their £1.4million home in Stoke Newington, east London, after she had said they should end their ten-year relationship. In the aftermath of the killing last June, George started a fire in the basement in order to cause a gas canister explosion which ripped through the house.
George, who had worked as an electrician on major projects such as Crossrail and the Northern Line extension, denied a murder charge, arguing he had lost self-control when he punched, throttled and ultimately stabbed his partner. But by the end of the trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, judge Mr Justice Constable KC had ruled that his defence could not be relied on, thanks to 'overwhelming' evidence of George's short temper and a pattern of abuse directed towards Ms Rook.
The trial heard damning evidence that George - despite his denials - was an aggressive and bullying partner who was prone to angry outbursts over trivial matters. Ms Rook, a charity co-founder and the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, had vowed repeatedly to leave her volatile partner, but tragically did not follow through on the promise before she was murdered. This morning, a jury found George guilty of murder after deliberating for two-and-a-half hours.
Annabel Rook was a charity co-founder and the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook Clifton George killed his partner by stabbing her 31 times during a row at their London home The aftermath of the gas explosion on June 17 last year at the couple's Stoke Newington home Police and firefighters rushed to the couple's home on June 17 last year after an explosion George nodded slightly in the dock as the guilty verdict was delivered but showed little emotion, while friends of Ms Rook broke down in tears in the public gallery.
Police and firefighters rushed to the couple's home on Dumont Road at just before 5am on June 17 last year after an explosion - likened by neighbours to an 'mini earthquake' - ripped through the property and blew off part of the roof. George was found lying on the kitchen floor covered in blood and then tried to stab himself with a shard of broken glass while Ms Rook lay dead in the living room.
He admitted 'I lost it' in the aftermath of the attack and the trial heard how George had been furious with his partner for keeping a secret from him. George claimed at trial that he was not short-tempered, and attempted to place the blame for the stabbing on Ms Rook, suggesting he had 'lost it' when she pushed him in the face.
However, Ms Rook's friends and family gave evidence to show that George had a 'short fuse' and had shown himself to be quick to anger, while Ms Rook described herself as 'walking on eggshells' around him. Ms Rook spelled out in a heartbreaking letter how she lived in fear of her abusive partner's temper and wanted to end their ten-year relationship.
She wrote to George, saying they did not make each other happy anymore and telling him: However hard I tried, I seemed to make you angry. But Ms Rook's letter was never sent, and was only discovered by police on her laptop after she had been beaten, throttled, and stabbed to death by George.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the unsent letter was a heartbreaking description of a woman reluctantly letting go of her dream of a happy life with her partner. It is not angry, or hurtful - it is expressed as an attempt to be reasonable and accepting that the relationship just isn't going to work. In the letter, she suggested a separation and wrote: A year ago we came to the decision we weren't making each other happy.
Somehow love wasn't enough. We couldn't reach each other. She added: My heart is broken. In 2024, George had angrily turned on Ms Rook at the Glastonbury Festival after getting into a drunken row with one of their friends.
Ms Rook said in her letter that something inside of me snapped, and she wrote to her partner: I couldn't deal with our misunderstandings anymore. I couldn't deal with feeling like I couldn't be myself in case I said something that upset you.
However hard I tried, I seemed to make you angry. Ms Rook set out that she felt lonely in the relationship and unable to be true to herself. In another note that she had written to herself, Ms Rook described sitting in the spare room while trying to avoid a bout of George's anger over domestic chores. You are raging downstairs, emptying the bins with fury, the bins I've not emptied, the mess I've created, she wrote.
I don't want to be around you - you are so unkind to me. It is the third time in three days you gaslight me and shouted me down. Mostly I don't want you hurting me anymore
Clifton George Annabel Rook Murder Gas Explosion Electrician Partner Crime Justice
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