The daughter of a top Old Bailey judge was ‘very anxious’ about being in the company of her ‘furious’ partner in the days leading up to him killing her and blowing up their home, a court heard.
Clifton George, 45, is accused of murdering Annabel Rook, 46, during an argument at their home in Stoke Newington, north London, on June 17 last year.
He allegedly punched Ms Rook and tried to strangle her before taking a knife from the kitchen and stabbing her to death.
It is alleged he then started a fire and blew up a gas canister, causing an explosion which ‘significantly damaged’ the home.
The neighbours were 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 and George ‘was found in the back garden, bleeding heavily and trying to stab himself with a shard of broken glass’, the court heard earlier.
Ms Rook was the daughter of respected Old Bailey judge Peter Rook and founder of social enterprise MamaSuze, which supports refugee and vulnerable women through community events in London.
George admits arson and manslaughter of Ms Rook but denies murdering her. The prosecutor previously said his guilty plea for manslaughter has not been accepted, and he continues to be accused of murder.
The couple, who had been together since 2013, had been having relationship difficulties and Ms Rook had asked George to move out of the home for a trial separation just days before he killed her.
Annabel Rook, 46, was the daughter of respected Old Bailey judge Peter Rook and founder of social enterprise MamaSuze, which supports refugee and vulnerable women through community events in London
Clifton George, 45, is accused of murdering Ms Rook during an argument in the early hours of June 17, 2025
An aerial view of the home George and Ms Rook shared in Stoke Newington, north London
In an email to her father on May 31, she said she had made up her mind to separate from George, writing: ‘Clifton is furious with me.
‘I’m very anxious and don’t want to be around Clifton at all.
‘Please don’t message me or call, I will call you when I can tomorrow.’
She went on to say she would ‘get through this’ because she was ‘strong’, and stressed she could not leave the home she shared with George because she did not want to leave their two children.
On the same day, she confessed to a friend that it was all getting ‘too much’ for her to cope with and she ‘feared’ her partner was going to give her ‘a piece of his mind’.
Jurors listened to voice messages George sent to a friend around the same time, in which he complained that Ms Rook was a ‘massive liar’.
He said in a voice message: ‘I came towards her in the garden, I’m fuming, and she flinched, it was like over–the–top acting. She said “You got an angry face”.
‘I’ve never raised my hand to you, don’t turn this around into something.
‘She’ll play the victim card and I just cannot be bothered with it. She will eavesdrop, she’s a massive liar.’
Clifton resisted Ms Rook’s suggestion that they should see a psychotherapist, and told his friend he didn’t want his childhood to be blamed for their relationship problems, the court heard.
The trial continues.
