The partner of an Old Bailey judge’s daughter accused her of ‘lying to him’ before he stabbed her to death and blew up their £1.4million house with a gas cannister, a court has heard.
Clifton George, 45, is accused of murdering 46-year-old Annabel Rook during an argument at their home in Stoke Newington, north London, on June 17 last year.
Ms Rook was the daughter of respected former Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, and had reportedly been trying to get George out of her home when she was killed.
George has admitted responsibility for her death by pleading guilty to manslaughter, jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court have been told.
However the defendant denies murdering Ms Rook, the co-founder of a London-based social enterprise called MamaSuze, which supports refugee and migrant women with art and drama activities.
The trial, which opened today, heard that police and firefighters arrived at the couple’s home at 5am on June 17 to find George in the kitchen covered in blood.
Asked whether anyone was inside the house, he said ‘my wife’, but that she was dead ‘because I killed her’.
Later in his police interview, George said he had ‘lost it’ when he found out Ms Rook had ‘lied’ to him.
Annabel Rook pictured in an image released by the Metropolitan Police
Clifton George, 45, is accused of murdering the 46-year-old Annabel Rook after an argument
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones, KC, said: ‘On the night of June 16/17 last year, the defendant argued with his partner Annabel Rook; and in the course of that argument he punched her, he tried to strangle her; and then he went to the kitchen to get a knife, with which he then returned and stabbed her to death.
‘He had started a fire and blown up a gas canister, causing an explosion and significant damage to the house.’
The neighbours were later woken by a ‘massive boom’ at around 4.45am and called the fire brigade.
When police arrived at the scene, Ms Rook’s body was found inside the house in the living room, the court heard.
Mr Emlyn Jones said: ‘She was dead, and had been dead for several hours. She had been stabbed a great many times.’
The couple had been together since 2013 and had two children, although they had never married.
Mr Emlyn Jones said: ‘There is no doubt that their relationship had been difficult, certainly at times, and that in the summer of 2025 it had broken down to the extent that they were heading towards a break-up.
‘Annabel had told the defendant that he had to leave.
‘The evidence of their relationship in the last few years of Annabel’s life will come in the form of evidence from her family, and from their friends, but also from messages and notes recovered from their telephones, which provide an accurate and contemporaneous record of what was going on as their relationship deteriorated, and how they both felt about it.’
Earlier, the court heard that George took a knife from the kitchen and carried it to the living room to stab Ms Rook.
He was described as ‘very angry and upset’ in the aftermath of the incident.
An aerial view of their home on Dumont Road in Stoke Newington
Forensics officers are pictured bagging up evidence on Dumont Road last June
George is then accused of starting a fire in the property, setting a gas cannister alight and triggering ‘an enormous explosion’, causing significant damage to the home.
Mr Emlyn Jones said Ms Rook had been stabbed ‘a great many times’ when her body was discovered after the explosion.
Meanwhile, George, she added ‘was found in the back garden, bleeding heavily and trying to stab himself with a shard of broken glass’.
The prosecutor told jurors: ‘I can tell you at the outset that the defendant does not deny that he stabbed his partner to death.
‘He admits that he killed her.’
The prosecutor said George’s guilty plea to manslaughter has not been accepted, and he continues to be accused of murder.
He said jurors will have to determine the reason for the fatal stabbing, including an assessment of their relationship, which was ‘difficult at times’.
George denies murder, but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The trial continues.