A murder trial has opened at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London in which a 45-year-old man is accused of stabbing his partner to death during an argument at their north London home and then triggering a gas explosion in an apparent attempt to destroy the property. The victim, Annabel Rook, 46, was the daughter of Peter Rook, a retired judge who served at the Old Bailey. The defendant Clifton George has admitted he was responsible for her death by pleading guilty to manslaughter but denies that the killing constituted murder. The prosecution has not accepted that plea and the trial is proceeding on the charge of murder.Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told the court that on the night of June 16 and 17 last year, George argued with Rook at their home in Stoke Newington. During the argument, he punched her and attempted to strangle her before going to the kitchen, taking a knife, and returning to stab her to death. Emlyn Jones told the jury that George lost his temper and, in his rage, murdered Annabel. She was stabbed 22 times, including through the heart, as reported by Sky News.After killing her George set fire to the property. He ignited a gas canister which caused what the prosecutor described as an enormous explosion. When officers arrived at the scene they found George in the back garden bleeding heavily and attempting to harm himself with a piece of broken glass. He was asked whether anyone was inside the house. He said his wife was inside but that she was dead. When asked how he knew she was dead he told officers he had killed her.In his police interview George said he had lost it after discovering that Rook had lied to him. The court heard the couple had never married but had lived together for just over a decade. The prosecutor said their relationship had been difficult at times and that the argument on the night of the killing followed Rook telling George to leave their shared home.Jurors will be asked to determine whether what happened that night constituted murder or the lesser charge of manslaughter to which George has already pleaded guilty. The distinction will rest on the nature and intent behind the killing and on an assessment of the relationship between the two people involved.
