Annabel Rook had dedicated her life to protecting vulnerable women, yet her own life was ended violently by her controlling partner, in the home they shared together.
“I’m sure the irony is not lost on people,” Annabel’s father, Peter Rook, says.
“Because here she was, the great safeguarder of women. But who was safeguarding her, at her time of need?”
Annabel, 46, was stabbed 31 times by her partner of 10 years, Clifton George, at their home in Stoke Newington, north London, in June last year, after she had tried to end their relationship.
He had punched and tried to strangle her, and then started a fire that triggered a gas canister blast.
George, 45, was found guilty of murder following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court and on Tuesday was jailed for life with a minimum of 23 years.
Warning: This story contains distressing content and discussion of domestic abuse
Annabel’s parents Peter and Susanna Rook, along with her childhood friend Catherine Milne, say the case highlights the complexity of recognising abuse and the heightened danger to women trying to leave a volatile partner.
“She really was the most brilliantly funny, exuberant, hilarious, intelligent, compassionate person, and she was also incredibly dynamic and powerful, and if this could happen to her, it could happen to any of us,” Milne says.
Milne had been friends with Annabel since the age of eight, and the pair had volunteered together in Ghana, before founding the group MamaSuze in Islington, which helps refugee and migrant women – some of whom have fled domestic violence – through art and drama.
“She was the leader of our community, and I wonder if somewhere that was also part of the reason her partner ended up hating her so much,” says Milne.
“I think he really resented how loved she was, and how revered she was, and how adored she was, and that was actually part of why he wanted to destroy her.”
