Annabel Rook was savagely murdered by her partner of 10 years and had written him a letter on her laptop before her death. The 46-year-old expressed she was 'heartbroken' that she had decided to end the relationship but that she couldn't take his angry outbursts anymore, a court has heard.
It also heard how Annabel was subjected to years of verbal and physical abuse by Clifton George. In her note, typed on her laptop, she appeared to touch upon his behaviour and stated she wanted to leave as she didn't want him 'hurting' her anymore. She wrote that the pair no longer made each other happy, adding: 'However hard I tried, I seemed to make you angry.'
On June 16 last year, George beat, strangled and stabbed Ms Rook to death in the living room of their Stoke Newington home. After killing her, he then caused a fire by prompting a gas explosion. On Tuesday, George was convicted by a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court for the murder of Ms Rook.
Condemning evidence was presented during the four-week trial outlining George's short fuse, his propensity to become irate over minor things, and instances when he had verbally and physically assaulted Ms Rook. Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC described the unsent letter as '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 – it is expressed as an attempt to be reasonable and accepting that the relationship just isn't going to work.'
In the letter, she proposed a separation and wrote: 'A year ago we came to the decision we weren't making each other happy. Somehow love wasn't enough. We couldn't reach each other.' She added: 'My heart is broken.'
In 2024, George had furiously lashed out at Ms Rook at Glastonbury Festival following a booze-fuelled argument with one of their mates. Ms Rook revealed in her letter that 'something inside of me snapped', and she penned to her partner: 'I couldn't deal with our misunderstandings anymore. 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.'
Ms Rook, an esteemed charity worker who is the daughter of a retired Old Bailey judge, explained that she felt 'lonely' in the relationship and unable to be genuine to herself. In another message that she had penned to herself, Ms Rook described sitting in the spare bedroom while trying to dodge a spell of George's rage over household tasks. 'You are raging downstairs, emptying the bins with fury, the bins I've not emptied, the mess I've created. I don't want to be around you – you are so unkind to me. It is the third time in three days you gaslight me and shouted me down. Mostly I don't want you hurting me anymore.'
When she was murdered, Ms Rook had told George they should split up and made it clear he should move out of their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington. George, an electrician, insisted at trial that he was not quick-tempered, and tried to shift the blame for the stabbing onto Ms Rook, claiming he had 'lost it' when she shoved him in the face. However, evidence from Ms Rook's friends and family painted a picture of George as having a 'short fuse' and being quick to anger, while Ms Rook herself described living like she was 'walking on eggshells' around him.
In February 2023, she had tearfully confided in her father, Judge Peter Rook, that she was contemplating leaving George, branding him a bully and expressing fear that 'he would never change'. Just days before her tragic death, Ms Rook left her sister a message after an argument with George, concluding that the relationship was 'not tenable'. 'I fear there will be some more wrath to come,' she said, admitting it is 'not a nice place to be'. 'I will get through this and will be stronger for it out the other side,' she stated as she ended the message, on June 1 2025.
But demonstrating Ms Rook's generous spirit, the court also heard evidence that she planned to give £50,000 to George to assist him in finding a new home and held hopes that he would continue to join her on Rook family holidays in the future. In a ruling to remove George's right to claim loss of self-control as a defence to murder, Mr Justice Constable KC said the evidence had shown that he is prone to 'becoming extremely and disproportionately angry and aggressive, often at minor or petty things'. 'The evidence was overwhelming,' he declared. 'It came from direct testimony from witnesses who had both experienced that anger directly, and to whom it was regularly reported by Annabel Rook.'
He outlined that the sole feasible conclusion from the evidence was that George was capable of 'unreasonable flashing rage anger', and the killing of his partner had occurred during an 'extreme loss of temper'. George, who had been drinking red wine, punched and throttled his partner, before arming himself with a kitchen knife and stabbing her 31 times. In the aftermath of the stabbing, George went on to blow up the house with a gas explosion. George has been remanded in custody until sentencing on June 9, when he will face a life sentence.
