An electrician who stabbed his partner to death in a frenzied rage before blowing up their home in a gas explosion has been found guilty of murder. Clifton George killed Annabel Rook, 46, by stabbing her 31 times during a row at their east London home after she said they should end their 10-year relationship. He then started a fire in the basement to cause a gas canister explosion, which ripped through the house.
George, 45, who had worked on major transport projects such as Crossrail and the Northern Line extension, denied murder, arguing that he had lost self-control. But at Snaresbrook Crown Court, the judge ruled that his defence could not be relied on, due to “overwhelming” evidence of his short temper and a pattern of abuse directed towards Ms Rook.
The trial heard damning evidence that George was an aggressive and bullying partner prone to angry outbursts over trivial matters. Ms Rook, a charity co-founder and the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, had repeatedly said she was going to leave her volatile partner but did not follow through. On Wednesday, a jury found George guilty of murder after deliberating for two and a half hours.
Police and firefighters arrived at the couple’s home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, at just before 5am on 17 June last year after an explosion – likened by one neighbour to a “mini earthquake” – blew off part of the roof. George was found lying on the kitchen floor covered in blood and tried to stab himself with a shard of broken glass while Ms Rook lay dead in the living room. In the aftermath he admitted “I lost it”.
Friends and family of Ms Rook gave evidence contradicting George’s insistence that he did not have a “short fuse”. Her best friend, Sian Davin, described an incident when George pushed Ms Rook against a wall and grabbed her around the throat, saying he had “unreasonable flashing rage anger” and would fat-shame and gaslight her. A former flatmate said he moved out due to George’s “angry outbursts”.
Before the fatal stabbing, Ms Rook had told George they should separate and that he should move out of their home, which she owned. Although under no legal obligation, she had decided to give him £50,000 to help find a new home. On the night of the murder, George had been drinking red wine and argued with Ms Rook about a secret she had been keeping from him. He punched her, tried to strangle her, then went to the kitchen to get a knife and stabbed her 31 times.
