Voice note showed victim's fear, murder trial told

Annabel Rook, 46, was killed at her home in Stoke Newington, north London, by Clifton George, 45, a Crossrail worker. George admits manslaughter and arson but denies murder, claiming he lost self-control. After the killing, a fire triggered a gas canister blast. In a voice note sent to a friend in May 2025, Rook described George becoming increasingly angry because she had not cleaned his knives properly. She said she could not prevent him from getting angry and felt the situation was too volatile. Prosecutors challenged George’s account, including the idea that cleaning a knife would be simple and not escalate. George denied that the knife issue became an argument about her being a liar.

"A charity worker who was killed by her partner sent a voice note to a friend saying "I can't not make him angry", a jury has heard. Annabel Rook, 46, was killed by Crossrail worker Clifton George at their home in Stoke Newington, in north London, before starting a fire that triggered a gas canister blast. George, 45, admits manslaughter and arson on 16 June 2025, but denies murder, blaming the killing on a loss of self-control."

"In a voice note sent to a friend in May 2025, which was played to the jury, Rook described George becoming angry because she did not clean his knives properly. The message, played at Snaresbrook Crown Court, said: "He really lost it at me on Saturday as I was just saying to him very gently saying, 'please, please stop shouting at me.'" The voice note added: "He was just getting more and more worked up about these knives because I haven't cleaned them properly, he kept saying things to me [like] you're a liar, you're a liar, Annabel.""

"She continued: "I can't not make him angry, it's always going to happen. "I've made him angry because I haven't dried up his knife. For me it just feels too volatile," she told her friend, adding: "I just know in my gut it's not right." Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC put to George that "there's a knife on the side, so what?" and "you just pick it up, you wipe it clean with a cloth and you move on"."

"George told the court that "there wasn't a big argument about it" and denied he had managed to turn an issue about cleaning into an "argument about her being a liar". The jury heard their relationship was crumbling and George said the couple had argued before he stabbed her. He claimed that o"

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