A man stabbed his partner to death during a row at their North London home before attempting to kill himself by triggering a gas explosion that lifted floorboards and shook neighbouring properties “like a mini-earthquake,” a court has heard.
Clifton George, 45, is on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court accused of murdering Annabel Rook, 46, a mother of two and co-founder of London social enterprise MamaSuze, at their home in Stoke Newington in the early hours of 17 June 2025.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told jurors that the killing followed a deteriorating relationship between the couple, who had lived together for just over a decade without marrying. By the summer of 2025, the court heard, the relationship had broken down to the point where Ms Rook had told George he had to leave. “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,” Mr Emlyn Jones said. “He was undoubtedly very angry with her.”
Ms Rook, described in court as the daughter of a judge, was found inside the property with “many” stab wounds. After killing her, George allegedly set a gas canister alight in the basement of the home, triggering what the court described as “an enormous explosion” in what prosecutors say was a plan to kill himself and “explode the house.” The blast caused significant structural damage, moving furniture and lifting floorboards. Neighbours reported being woken by a “massive boom.”
George was subsequently found in the back garden bleeding heavily and attempting to stab himself with a shard of broken glass. When emergency crews arrived and he told them his partner was inside the house, he was asked how he knew she was dead. “Because I killed her,” he replied, the court heard.
In a police interview, George told officers he had “lost it” after discovering that Ms Rook had “lied to me.” Mr Emlyn Jones told the court that messages and notes recovered from both of their mobile phones would form a key part of the evidence, providing “an accurate and contemporaneous record of what was going on as their relationship deteriorated, and how they both felt about it.”
George has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder. The trial continues.
