Abusive partner of judge’s daughter jailed for life for her murder
An electrician who stabbed a judge’s daughter to death in a frenzied rage before blowing up their home in a gas explosion has been jailed for life.
Clifton George, 45, killed his partner Annabel Rook, 46, by stabbing her 31 times during a row at their east London home after she had said they should end their 10-year relationship. In the aftermath of the killing, George started a fire in the basement in order to cause a gas canister explosion which ripped through the house, causing around £400,000 of damage. At Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Constable KC sentenced George to life in prison and ordered that he serve at least 23 years in prison before becoming eligible for release. He said George had the ability to be friendly and fun, but he had “another troubling side to your character”. “An overwhelming picture has emerged of your rage, anger, and volatility”, said the judge, adding that George had a “pronounced temper” which could be sparked by trivial matters and “perceived slights”. Turning to Ms Rook, the judge said a picture of her “shone brightly” through the testimonies of friends and family as a person who was “kind, attentive, funny, and altruistically motivated, and someone whose instinct was to support, to listen, and to improve the lives of others.” He rejected George’s claim at trial that he had been provoked by Ms Rook pushing him, the judge said that would have been “completely out of character”. “She feared you, she feared your wrath,” he said. “In your rage and fury, you brutally stabbed Annabel to death.” He added that even after the murder and explosion, George “remained fixated on your self-absorbed belief that Annabel had betrayed you”. Ms Rook’s father, retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, branded George “utterly selfish” while her mother Susanna Rook called him “a wicked, totally narcissistic, damaged person”. Delivering a victim impact statement in court, Mrs Rook held back tears as she hailed her daughter as “optimistic, inclusive, and full of fun”. “We know we will never be able to come to terms with her death, and life without her is painful and hard to bear,” she said. “We do feel Clifton betrayed the trust we placed in him. We welcomed him into the family in every way we could. “Bearing in mind his short fuse, particularly when in drink, we realise his inability to understand and address his own problems means he is, was, and will continue to be a dangerous man.” Ms Rook’s sister Sophie told the court: “Without Annabel, there is less joy and less hope.” She said her sister’s murder has left the family dealing with the “painful question of whether we could have done more to help her escape”. After the sentencing hearing, Peter Rook – surrounded by members of his family outside the courthouse – called for action in society to tackle domestic abuse. “One thing we have learned is it’s so important that good men and women who encounter misogyny, in particular with men who are violent and controlling towards their partners, they should have the courage to call them out. “We know it is difficult but there are ways it can be done with sensitivity, and they should do it even if they risk being ostracised by their peers.” George was convicted at trial of murder and he admitted arson over the gas explosion he triggered after stabbing his partner to death. He attempted to claim loss of self-control as a partial defence to the killing, but this fell apart thanks to evidence of his short fuse, angry outbursts at Ms Rook during their relationship, and at least one incident when he had been violent towards her. Sophie Rook described the pain of hearing George’s defence case, saying his attempts to turn the blame on her felt like her sister being attacked again. Ms Rook was the co-founder of social enterprise MamaSuze, which helped refugee women and children through creative arts workshops. George killed her on the night of June 16 last year at their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, punching and throttling her before arming himself with a kitchen knife. George was heard shouting “you lied” as he committed the murder, and the court heard he had flown into a rage after finding out that Ms Rook had kept a secret from him which had been told to her in confidence. In the aftermath of the murder, George triggered the gas explosion – likened by neighbours to an “mini earthquake” – which ripped through the property and blew off part of the roof. Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC suggested during the trial that the blast had been George’s attempt to destroy the evidence of the murder, as well as a final “up yours” to the Rook family. When neighbours came to investigate after the explosion, George was found lying on the kitchen floor covered in blood. He admitted that he had “lost it” before killing Ms Rook and he tried to stab himself with a shard of broken glass. In his defence, George insisted he did not have a “short fuse”, but friends and family of Ms Rook gave evidence of his true character. Ms Rook’s best friend, Sian Davin, told jurors she believed George needed therapy for his anger issues and described an incident when he pushed Ms Rook against a wall and grabbed her around the throat. She said he had “unreasonable flashing rage anger” at times, would fat-shame and gaslight Ms Rook, and possessed a “tendency to over-react about small trivial things”. Daniel Varani, a former flatmate of Ms Rook, described the joy of their time living together but said he decided to move out shortly after George moved in, because of his “angry outbursts”. The court heard of an incident in 2024 when George stormed out of Glastonbury Festival after rowing with one of Ms Rook’s friend and then drunkenly haranguing his partner. In another incident, George had flown into a rage when Ms Rook washed his chef’s knives and left them to drip-dry instead of immediately putting them away. In 2023, Ms Rook tearfully confided in her father about George’s short temper, saying living with him was like “walking on eggshells” and first mentioning the possibility of a break-up. She told her close friend Catherine Milne about the relationship difficulties while insisting there had been no violence and saying: “I don’t think he would do that.” Ms Davin said her friend had acknowledged by summer 2024 that the relationship was “abusive” and a couple of weeks before her death Ms Rook left her sister a message saying the relationship was “not tenable”. “I fear there will be some more wrath to come,” she said, in a heartbreaking voicenote which was played during the trial, where she went on to predict they would “get through this and will be stronger for it out the other side”. Before the fatal stabbing, Ms Rook had told George that they should separate and he should move out of their home, which she owned. But she had planned to give her partner £50,000 to find a new home, and harboured hopes that they would continue to holiday together in the future. George, who had been drinking red wine on the night of the murder, had learned that he was not legally entitled to any share of the property, and he started an argument with Ms Rook. “In the course of that argument he punched her, he then tried to strangle her, and then he went to the kitchen to get a knife, he came back with the knife and he stabbed her to death,” said Mr Emlyn Jones. “He lost his temper, and in his rage he murdered Annabel.” In her victim impact statement, Ms Milne vowed to continue running MamaSuze as a “great way to keep Annabel’s legacy alive”. But she added: “It will never be the same.” Ms Rook’s murder was “an attack on all of us at MamaSuze, and it felt so personal and abhorrent for a women’s community leader to be killed like this in her own home.” She added: “I will never understand why Clifton George felt such contempt and hatred towards someone I loved so much.” George, a qualified electrician who worked on projects including Crossrail and the Northern Line extension, stared straight ahead from the dock as Ms Rook’s family read out their victim impact statements. The trial heard he was the victim of violent abuse at the hands of his mother when he was a child, leading to him being taken into care. George also told the court that as a youngster he was traumatised by finding his infant sister death in her cot. His barrister, Mathew Sherratt KC, told the court: “He understands this is a terrible thing he has done.” George pleaded guilty before the trial to manslaughter and arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered. The jury convicted him unanimously of murder.
Published: by Radio NewsHub