A man on trial for murdering his girlfriend and blowing up their north London home has told a jury he suffered racist abuse, alleging that a black fish in her family’s garden pond was named after him.
Clifton George, 45, claims the naming of the fish was part of a pattern of discrimination he endured at the home of Annabel Rook’s parents. Giving evidence at Snaresbrook Crown Court, he said that when he confronted Annabel’s father, retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook KC, about the issue, the judge dismissed it as a “misunderstanding”. According to George, Judge Rook shouted “no, no, no”, turned his face away and then fell silent, staring at the fireplace. “I sat there for what felt like a very long time, 20 seconds, in complete silence,” George told jurors. “I said his name twice, Peter, Peter, and he just ignored me. I said ‘okey dokey’, and got up and walked out.”
Racist Abuse Claims
George, who is black, told the court that the incident with the fish was not an isolated one. He recalled a separate occasion at a house party when a guest called him a “black b*****” and claimed Judge Rook did nothing in response. The defendant said these experiences, combined with what he described as repeated insults from Annabel about his childhood trauma, left him feeling isolated and angry.
The 45-year-old, who worked as an electrician on major projects including Crossrail and the Leadenhall Building, known as the Cheese Grater, said he was “madly in love” with Annabel when they first began dating in 2010 after meeting at a house party. He said he was “in awe” of her father because of his status as a judge. But he claimed the relationship became strained after he was subjected to racist discrimination at the Rook family home.
George told the jury that Annabel would repeatedly “throw insults” at him about the abuse he had suffered as a child at the hands of his mentally ill mother. He described how, as a boy growing up in Hackney and Whitechapel, his mother poured boiling water from a kettle over him for playing football indoors, and on another occasion swung him three times into a door. He was taken into care after the second incident and never saw his mother again. He also said he had found his infant sister dead in her cot, leading to night terrors and a fear of touching things.
He alleged that Annabel would “flip out” and threaten to end their relationship “over minor issues”, shouting and pointing in his face during arguments. On a holiday in Antigua, he said she turned on him “out of nowhere” and began abusing him about his past. “She was saying stuff like I’m damaged, I’m broken, I didn’t know how to be in a relationship because of what my mother did to me,” he told the court. “It was just nasty.” He also claimed she would show annoyance when he wanted to watch his beloved Arsenal matches, complaining about his season ticket.
The Relationship’s Decline
George admits to killing Annabel and starting the fire that caused an explosion at their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, but denies murder, arguing he lost self-control. The prosecution, led by William Emlyn Jones KC, has not accepted his manslaughter plea and is proceeding with a murder charge. They allege George murdered the charity worker by grabbing her around the neck and stabbing her 22 times with a kitchen knife as their relationship was crumbling.
Annabel, 46, was the daughter of Peter Rook KC, a highly respected retired senior circuit judge who sat at the Old Bailey from 2005 to 2017 and is a co-author of the textbook “Sexual Offences: Law and Practice”. She was the co-founder of MamaSuze CIC, a London social enterprise supporting refugee and migrant women and children through art and drama, and had worked with marginalised people for over two decades. Her family described her as a “truly wonderful woman” who “gave her life to helping the vulnerable and the disadvantaged”. She had two children, aged seven and nine at the time of her death.
The court heard that Annabel’s best friend, Sian Davlin, testified that George had an “unreasonable flashing rage” and a pattern of abusive behaviour, including belittling, fat‑shaming and gaslighting Annabel. Davlin recalled an incident in a park where George accused her of stereotyping him as an “angry black man” when she asked him to calm down. She also said that during a holiday in France, George called her husband an “Uncle Tom” for taking the side of a white person in a dispute. According to Davlin, Annabel and George had annual conversations about separating, but he would manipulate her into staying. By the summer of 2024, Davlin said, Annabel was acknowledging George’s behaviour as abusive.
George has denied having a short fuse, telling the jury: “Yes, I have lost my temper. But not often. If we were having an argument, I would raise my voice back.” He admitted pushing Annabel out of the way during one argument where she was shouting and pointing in his face, but denied an allegation that he pinned her against a wall by her neck.
The Legal Proceedings
On the morning of June 17, 2025, emergency services were called to the Dumont Road property at 4:57 am after an explosion ripped through the house. Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters attended. Neighbours described the noise as a “massive boom” and a “mini-earthquake”. The blast blew out the front bay window and damaged the house next door. Annabel’s body was found inside, and George was discovered in the back garden bleeding heavily, attempting to stab himself with a piece of broken glass. He was taken to hospital with slash wounds that were not life-threatening and was arrested at the scene.
Investigators believe George triggered the explosion by lighting paper on the kitchen hob and carrying it to the basement, where a propane gas canister was located. The basement was directly underneath the living room where Annabel’s body was found. The cause of the blast is being investigated by the fire brigade and the Metropolitan Police Service, who have confirmed they are not seeking anyone else in connection with the incident.
George has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson but continues to deny the charge of murder. His evidence is due to continue on Wednesday, with the trial expected to last six weeks at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
