Catherine Milne's best friend Annabel Rook was stabbed to death in her own living room by her partner in June 2025. Annabel, whom Catherine called Joybell, was her soulmate since age eight. Together they co-founded MamaSuze, a London-based community organization supporting women survivors of gender-based violence and displacement. Now, Catherine grapples with grief, guilt, and a call for collective outrage against femicide.
The Night of the Murder
On a Monday evening in June 2025, Annabel's partner returned from a weekend in Barcelona. Their relationship was in crisis; she had told him they should separate. After putting their children to bed, he punched her repeatedly, tried to strangle her, then fetched a knife from the kitchen. Neighbors heard her screams. Police and ambulance arrived in the early hours to find her dead on the sitting room floor. He attempted suicide and then sparked a gas explosion, destroying the home. Annabel's children had fled to a friend's house nearby.
A Lifelong Bond
Catherine and Annabel met at a small private primary school in Tufnell Park, north London. They were both dyslexic, creative, and tentative. As teenagers, they stayed out all night, rode skateboards, and danced at London's Whirl-Y-Gig. In their mid-20s, they worked at the Buduburam refugee settlement in Ghana with 42,000 Liberian refugees. That experience shaped their commitment to helping others. Years later, they founded MamaSuze, offering trauma-informed creative workshops, childcare, and travel money to marginalized women.
The Warning Signs
Catherine had shared her fear that Annabel's partner could physically harm her. She knew leaving a relationship is statistically the most dangerous time. Annabel had expressed doubts about his inability to love and parent, but she hoped he could heal. Catherine recalls telling her, "I don't know what you are waiting for – there is never going to be a good time to leave him." The violence had been emotional, not physical, until the end.
Aftermath and Trial
Annabel's father sorted through her belongings that survived the fire. Her children lost both parents and their home. Catherine felt the murder as an attack on MamaSuze. The psychotherapist described it as "an attack from within." In court, the jury found him guilty of murder after a few hours' deliberation. He received a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years because the killing occurred at home. Catherine notes that 113 women were killed by men in the UK in 2025, and violence against women and girls is accelerating.
Continuing the Mission
Catherine keeps MamaSuze alive as an act of resistance. The women in the group support each other and Annabel's mother. They sing, dance, laugh, and do clowning workshops. Catherine says, "Our joy is visceral and resides alongside our tears." She calls for men to challenge sexism and misogyny in everyday moments. Annabel's brother-in-law started a men's group; her little brother sings in a choir for men affected by her death.
A Call for Change
Catherine asks, "Where is the collective outrage?" She believes femicide affects women across all social spheres. The UK's criminal justice system worked for her, but she wonders if the tariff for domestic homicides should be increased. She reflects on the irony of supporting traumatized women and then becoming deeply traumatized herself. Yet she finds solace in Annabel's energy persisting in the universe. "Nothing is lost, only transformed," she says.
