Man, 45, found guilty of stabbing partner to death before blowing up their London home

In the aftermath of the killing, George started a fire in the basement of the Stoke Newington property in order to cause a gas canister explosion which ripped through the house.

George, who had worked as an electrician on major projects such as Crossrail and the Northern Line extension, denied a murder charge, arguing he had lost self-control when he punched, throttled and ultimately stabbed his partner.

However, by the end of the trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, the judge, Mr Justice Constable KC, had ruled that his defence could not be relied on, thanks to "overwhelming" evidence of George’s short temper and a pattern of abuse directed towards Ms Rook.

The trial heard damning evidence that George, despite his denials, was an aggressive and bullying partner who was prone to angry outbursts over trivial matters.

Ms Rook, a charity co-founder and the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, had vowed repeatedly to leave her volatile partner, but tragically did not follow through on the promise before she was murdered.

On Wednesday, a jury found George, of Dumont Road, Hackney, guilty of murder after deliberating for two-and-a-half hours.

George nodded slightly in the dock as the guilty verdict was delivered but showed little emotion, while friends of Ms Rook broke down in tears in the public gallery.

Police and firefighters rushed to the couple’s home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, at just before 5am on June 17 last year after an explosion, likened by neighbours to an "mini earthquake", ripped through the property and blew off part of the roof.

George was found lying on the kitchen floor covered in blood and then tried to stab himself with a shard of broken glass while Ms Rook lay dead in the living room.

He admitted "I lost it" in the aftermath of the attack and the trial heard how George had been furious with his partner for keeping a secret from him.

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, due to 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, but 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.

Although under no legal obligation, Ms Rook had decided to give George £50,000 to help him find a new home and she also had hopes that they would holiday together in the future.

On the night of the murder, George had been drinking red wine and got into an argument with Ms Rook about a secret she had been keeping from him.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told the court: 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. He lost his temper, and in his rage he murdered Annabel."

George, who had been heard crying out "he lied" repeatedly as he mounted the attack, claimed he had lost all self-control and had little memory of the stabbing. In a ruling on Monday, the judge concluded that his defence could not be left to the jury.

He highlighted that George had stopped mid-attack to arm himself with a knife, which was a deliberate action "plainly inconsistent with a loss of control" and he found there was "overwhelming evidence" of George’s short temper and bouts of anger.

George, who has been in custody since the murder, will be sentenced by Mr Justice Constable KC on June 9.

After he was taken to the cells, the judge praised Ms Rook’s family and friends for their composure while hearing the evidence in the trial.

Following the guilty verdict, CPS prosecutor Catherine Gould said: "Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of Annabel Rook. It is devastating that her life was taken in such a violent manner in her own home by someone she should have been able to trust.

"She was a deeply caring and empathetic person who had set up a charity working with women traumatised by domestic and sexual abuse.

"Clifton George sought to minimise his actions by claiming he had lost control. However, the evidence demonstrated that after assaulting Ms Rook, he retrieved a knife and returned to continue the attack, and the prosecution was able to prove the necessary intent for murder.

"We worked closely with the police to build the strongest possible case and to deliver justice for Annabel. We know that nothing can replace Annabel but hope that this verdict can bring some small measure of comfort to those who knew and loved her."