A judge's daughter was stabbed to death by her partner before he triggered a gas explosion at their east London home, a court has heard. Clifton George, 45, is accused of murdering 46-year-old Annabel Rook during an argument at their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, on June 17 2025.
George has admitted responsibility for her death by pleading guilty to manslaughter, but prosecutors at Snaresbrook Crown Court have not accepted the plea. Opening the case on Wednesday, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC said the stabbing happened amid the couple's crumbling relationship, after Ms Rook had told George to leave.
George was witnessed carrying out the stabbing and is accused of then setting out a plan to kill himself and 'explode the house'. He took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed Ms Rook in the living room, described as 'very angry and upset' afterwards. He then started a fire, setting a gas cannister alight and triggering an enormous explosion that caused significant damage and woke neighbours.
Ms Rook, the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, was the co-founder of a London-based social enterprise called MamaSuze, supporting refugee and migrant women. The prosecutor said Ms Rook had been stabbed 'a great many times', and George was found in the back garden bleeding heavily, trying to stab himself with a shard of glass. He told police 'my wife' was inside and dead 'because I killed her'.
In police interview, George said he 'lost it' when he found out Ms Rook had 'lied to me'. The court heard the couple had been living together for just over a decade but their relationship had broken down. The trial continues.
