George used a kitchen knife to inflict 22 stab wounds on Ms Rook, then started a fire to blow up a gas canister in the basement of the property
An electrician accused of murdering his partner before triggering a gas explosion at their home cannot rely on a defence of loss of self-control, a judge has ruled. Clifton George, 45, stabbed to death charity worker Annabel Rook, 46, at their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, north London, after she had told him their relationship was over.
George used a kitchen knife to inflict 22 stab wounds on Ms Rook, then started a fire to blow up a gas canister in the basement of the property. Last week, George gave evidence to Snaresbrook Crown Court that he “lost control” during an argument with his partner, and he claimed to not remember parts of the fatal attack.
He has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson, but denies murder and has mounted a defence that he punched, throttled, and stabbed Ms Rook after losing his self-control during the row. But on Tuesday, Mr Justice Constable KC told jurors that he has now ruled that George can no longer rely on this defence.
He said a defence of loss of control must meet three tests to be placed before a jury – that a defendant had in fact lost control, there was a sufficiently grave trigger, and a normal person in a similar position may have reacted in the same way.
“I determined that there was insufficient evidence upon which a jury, properly directed, might conclude each of the three limbs of the statutory test were made out,” said the judge.
“It was a necessary part of the process that all the potential evidence was explored before you.
“It was only possible at the end of the evidence to consider whether as a matter of law the partial defence of loss of control was available to Mr George. It was not.”
He told jurors they only now had to consider whether George had intended to kill or cause really serious harm to Ms Rook.
Opening his closing speech, prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC told jurors: “He has no defence to murder. The evidence demonstrated he is guilty of murder.” Ms Rook, the co-founder of charity MamaSuze and daughter of a retired Old Bailey judge, died in the early hours of June 17 last year.
Prior to her death, she had resolved to end her 10-year relationship with George and had told him to move out of their shared home which she owned.
Prosecutors allege George, an electrician who has worked on projects including Crossrail and the Northern line extension, had a “short fuse” and flew into a violent rage during the argument with Ms Rook.
It is said he was angry after finding out Ms Rook had kept a secret from him, and repeatedly shouted “you lied” as he mounted the attack.
In his defence last week, George told the court: “I attacked Annabel, I attacked her – I threw, I believe, I threw three or four punches at her.
“I know that she fell back because then I was on top of her and I had my hands around her neck, I was strangling her. I don’t know what was going through my head.”
He told jurors he stopped the attack, went to the kitchen to get a knife from a set Ms Rook had bought him for his birthday, and then resumed the attack by stabbing her in the chest.
George insisted he does not recall the stabbing and repeatedly told the jury “I lost control”, and he says his next memory is seeing Ms Rook standing by the window covered in blood.
When Ms Rook had died and George triggered the gas explosion, neighbours found him laying injured on the kitchen floor surrounded by broken glasses.
They then saw him trying to stab himself with a shard of broken glass. The trial has heard evidence from friends and family of Ms Rook, alleging George was short-tempered and got angry over trivial things.
In his evidence, George denied the claims and suggested Ms Rook would throw insults at him about trauma he suffered as a child. He claims the fatal attack happened after Ms Rook pushed his face.
The trial continues.
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