Man convicted of murdering partner in brutal knife attack

A man who killed his partner of more than a decade in their London home before attempting to blow up the property has been convicted of her murder.

Clifton George, 45, was found guilty of the murder of Annabel Rook, 46, by a jury at Snaresbrook crown court today. During the month-long trial the defence tried and failed to persuade jurors that the defendant had “lost control”.

As the verdict was announced sighs of relief and sobbing were heard from the victim’s friends and families in the court’s public gallery. George, who had denied murder but admitted manslaughter, remained stony-faced.

The jury heard how Rook died following a brutal attack by George, an electrician, during which the prosecution said he strangled her and stabbed her 22 times with a kitchen knife on the night of 16 June last year. He then set off a gas explosion in the basement of the property Rook owned in Stoke Newington, north-east London.

The couple were in the early stage of separation when Rook, the co-founder of a social enterprise dedicated to supporting refugee women who had experienced domestic violence, was murdered. Rook’s father, retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, described George as being angry with her for keeping a secret from him, which he felt was an act of “betrayal”.

Witnesses, including Rook’s siblings and a close friend, testified that George had emotionally abused and behaved aggressively towards Rook during their 10-year relationship.

Since at least 2015 Rook kept a private record documenting George’s behaviour as well as how it made her feel. In her notes, she wrote as though addressing George directly.

“I am exhausted,” Rook wrote in a May 2016 note read to the court. “I can’t keep negotiating your lack of understanding with yourself… I feel so lonely.”

Rook also described George as “cruel” – a depiction George rejected.

The jury heard George describe “blacking out” during his attack on Rook. He claimed he could not remember retrieving the kitchen knife he used to stab her and that when he “came to” Rook was on her knees with her chest and face covered in blood.

Judge Constable KC said the defendant could not use loss of control as a defence and instructed the jury that they must decide on whether George intended to murder Rook or inflict serious harm.

The jury deliberated for two hours yesterday and a further 30 minutes this morning before delivering their unanimous verdict.

Following the verdict the judge thanked those in the public gallery for the “dignified way in which distressing evidence has been received”.

George will be sentenced on 9 June.

Photographs by Metropolitan Police