Clifton George: Electrician guilty of murdering partner before blowing up their London home

An electrician who stabbed his partner to death in a frenzied rage before blowing him up with a gas explosion has been found guilty of murder.

Clifton George stabbed his partner Annabel Rook 31 times to death during a fight at their home in east London after she told him they needed to end their 10-year relationship. He then started a fire in the basement, causing the gas capsule from inside the house to explode.

George, 45, who worked as an electrician on major transport projects such as Crossrail and the Northern Line extension, denied murder, claiming he lost self-control when he punched, choked and eventually stabbed his partner.

But at the end of the hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court, the judge, Mr Justice Constable KC, ruled that George was short-tempered and his defense could not be relied upon because of the “overwhelming” evidence of the ill-treatment of Miss Rook.

The trial heard damning evidence that, contrary to his denials, George was an aggressive and overbearing partner prone to outbursts of anger over trivial matters.

Miss Rook, 46, the daughter of charity co-founder and retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, had repeatedly said she would split from her unstable partner but tragically failed to follow through on that promise. On Wednesday, the jury found George guilty of murder after deliberating for two and a half hours.

George nodded slightly at the podium as the guilty verdict was announced but showed little emotion as Ms Rook’s friends broke down in tears in the public gallery.

Police and fire crews arrived at the couple’s home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, just before 5am on June 17 last year, after an explosion that a neighbor likened to a “mini-earthquake” ripped through the property and blew off part of the roof.

George was found lying bleeding on the kitchen floor and Mrs. Rook tried to stab herself with a piece of broken glass as she lay dead in the living room. He admitted “I lost it” following his attack and the hearing heard how George was angry at his partner for keeping a secret from him.

In his defence, George insisted he did not have a “short fuse”, but Ms Rook’s friends and family gave conflicting evidence.

Miss Rook’s best friend, Sian Davin, told jurors she believed George needed therapy for his anger and described an incident in which he pushed Miss Rook against a wall and grabbed her by the throat. He said he occasionally had “irrational flashes of rage”, embarrassed and gaslighted Mrs Rook, and had a “tendency to overreact to small, unimportant things”.

Miss Rook’s former flatmate Daniel Varani described the joy of living together but said he decided to move out because of George’s “angry outbursts” shortly after moving in.

The court heard of an incident in 2024 when George stormed out of the Glastonbury Festival after rowing with one of Ms Rook’s friends and then drunkenly haranguing her partner.

On another occasion, George flew into a rage when Mrs. Rook’s chef washed his knives and left them to drip dry rather than immediately putting them away.

In 2023, Ms. Rook tearfully told her father about George’s irritable attitude, said living with him was like “walking on eggshells” and first mentioned the possibility of a separation.

While explaining the difficulties of the relationship to her close friend Catherine Milne, she stated that there was no violence and said, “I don’t think he would do this.”

Ms Davin said her friend admitted the relationship was “abusive” in the summer of 2024 and, a few weeks before her death, Ms Rook left a message to her sister saying the relationship was “not tenable”. “I fear some more anger to come,” he said, but went on to predict that “they will get through this and come out stronger on the other side.”

Before the fatal stabbing, Mrs Rook had told George they needed to separate and move out of their home, which she owned. Although she had no legal obligation to do so, Mrs Rook had decided to give George £50,000 to help him find a new home, and she also hoped they would holiday together in the future.

On the night of the murder, George had been drinking red wine and had argued with Mrs. Rook about a secret he was keeping from her.

William Emlyn Jones KC, prosecuting, said: “During the argument he punched her, then tried to strangle her and then went to the kitchen and got a knife. He came back with the knife and stabbed her to death.” “He lost his temper and killed Annabel in a rage.”

George, who was heard repeatedly shouting “he lied” while carrying out the attack, claimed that he lost all control and had little memory of the stabbing, but the judge ruled on Monday that his defense could not be left to the jury.

Judge Constable emphasized that George had stopped in the middle of the attack to arm himself with a knife; it was a deliberate act “clearly inconsistent with a loss of control” and stressed that he found “very strong evidence” of George’s irritability and tantrums.

“The only possible conclusion on the evidence is that Clifton George was clearly prepared and possessed of an irrational burst of anger,” he said.

Following the murder, George slit his wrists and subsequently triggered a gas explosion, but survived the explosion.

Ms Rook’s family and friends, including her father, filled the public gallery throughout the hearing and listened as George tried to portray Ms Rook as the abuser in the relationship in his evidence. She claimed he bullied her because of her childhood traumas of finding her younger sister dead in her cot and being taken into care after severe abuse by her mother. George claimed the fatal stabbing occurred after Miss Rook provoked him and pushed him in the face.

In the days after her death, there were numerous tributes to Ms Rook, co-founder of the charity MamaSuze, which supports refugee and migrant women, some fleeing domestic violence, through arts and drama.

“He touched the hearts of so many people,” his family said in a statement. “He devoted his life to helping the vulnerable and disadvantaged.”

George, who has been detained since the murder, will be sentenced on June 9. After being taken to the cells, the judge praised Ms Rook’s family and friends for their composure as he heard trial evidence.