Heartbreaking voice notes of a woman who was stabbed to death by her partner have been played in court, revealing her vow to leave him weeks before her death. Annabel Rook, 46, was punched, strangled, and stabbed 22 times by Clifton George at their home in Stoke Newington, East London, before he started a fire and caused a gas explosion that ripped through the property.
Relationship breakdown
Prosecutors say George, 45, had a short temper and murdered his partner when he flew into a rage on the night of June 16 last year. George has admitted responsibility for the killing, pleading guilty to manslaughter, but denies murder, blaming the fatal stabbing on a loss of self-control. Data from the Femicide Census and international studies indicate that ending a relationship is one of the most dangerous times for a woman in an abusive partnership.
At Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday, jurors were played voice notes recovered from Ms Rook's phone and heard extracts of letters she had written vowing to leave her partner of 10 years. She had accused him of being a bully, gaslighting her, and flying into a rage over small upsets.
Voice notes reveal fear
In early June, a couple of weeks before she died, Ms Rook left her sister a message after she and George had argued and she concluded the relationship was "not tenable". "I fear there will be some more wrath to come," she said, revealing it is "not a nice place to be". "I will get through this and will be stronger for it out the other side," she said as she signed off the message, on June 1.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC pointed out the "awful irony" that it turned out Ms Rook "wouldn't make it out the other side of this" and two weeks later she was dead.
The night of the murder
It is said an eyewitness saw George carrying out the stabbing at their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, taking a knife from the kitchen and attacking Ms Rook in the living room. It is alleged he was "very angry and upset" in the aftermath, setting fire to the basement of the property to trigger a gas canister explosion, and attempting to stab himself.
"On the night of June 16 and 17 last year, the defendant argued with his partner Annabel Rook," Mr Emlyn Jones 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." The prosecutor added: "He lost his temper, and in his rage... he murdered Annabel."
Victim's background
Ms Rook, the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, was the co-founder of a London-based social enterprise called MamaSuze, which supports refugee and migrant women with art and drama activities and workshops. The court heard of troubles in their relationship, and unsent letters from Ms Rook reveal George to be short-tempered and aggressive, say prosecutors.
On one occasion she described him "raging" downstairs while taking out the bins, and accused George of "gaslighting" her. "I don't want to be around you," she wrote, in a letter addressed to George. "You are so unkind to me." Mr Emlyn Jones described the letter as having George's temper being "brought vividly to life".
Glastonbury row
In June 2024, George stormed out of a trip to Glastonbury festival after getting into a drunken row with one of Ms Rook's friends, jurors heard. The prosecutor said a letter found on her laptop, apparently unsent, after her death was a "heartbreaking description of a woman reluctantly letting go of her dream of a happy life with her partner". "It is not angry or hurtful," he said. "It is expressed as an attempt to be reasonable and accepting that the relationship just isn't going to work.
Ms Rook had written that the couple concluded a year earlier that they were not making each other happy, saying she was heartbroken and "somehow love wasn't enough". "Last year, something inside of me snapped," she wrote. "I couldn't deal with our misunderstandings any more. I couldn't deal with feeling like I couldn't be myself in case I said something that upset you. However hard I tried, I seemed to make you angry."
She said George accused her in the Glastonbury row of being "poisonous", and wrote: "Inside I was so hurt. Is this the way you really feel about me? Poisoning people against you and causing drama." The court heard she wrote: "We need to separate, Clifton. I don't know if it will be for good, but I need to get some perspective, to have some space. I suggest you move out and stay with your brother for a while. We have some space, we can think about our relationship. Perhaps it has run its course."
After the killing
Jurors have been told that Ms Rook had suggested a trial separation to George and asked him to move out of their home just before the fatal stabbing. After the explosion, George was found in the back garden trying to stab himself. In police interview, George said he "lost it" when he found out Ms Rook had "lied to me". The trial will hear evidence from a fire investigator, who found George had started a fire in the basement after the stabbing to cause a propane gas canister to explode. Neighbours described the ensuing blast as "like a mini-earthquake".
In his statement to police, George accused Ms Rook of "coercive behaviour", suggesting she had been "constantly criticising me and insulting me to our friends and family members". Judge Rook is due to give evidence, including on a 2023 conversation with his daughter when she tearful and said "she and Clifton needed to separate", Mr Emlyn Jones said. "She said that he had a short temper, which could be triggered even by trivial things, and that he bullied her. She said that she was beginning to believe that he would never change, and we will see a pattern of him losing his temper, they fall out, and he promises to change. She described living with him as being like 'walking on eggshells'."
George denies murder, but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson. The trial continues.
