Stab victim told sister of separation, court told

A woman who was killed by her partner forwarded her sister a text about the pair trialling separation weeks before she was stabbed in her north London home, a court has heard.

Annabel Rook, 46, who was killed by her partner Clifton George, sent her sister Sophie Rook screenshots of messages between her and George in early June last year.

In the messages, Annabel Rook told George she thought they needed to have a trial separation, and he said "let's be realistic it's not going to be a trial".

George is alleged to have punched, strangled and stabbed Rook at their Stoke Newington home. He then started a fire and caused a gas explosion that ripped through the property, the court heard previously.

Prosecutors said George, 45, had a short temper and murdered his partner when he flew into a rage on the night of 16 June last year.

George admitted responsibility for the killing and pled guilty to manslaughter and arson, but denied murder, and blamed the fatal stabbing on a loss of self-control.

Jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court were told Sophie Rook had dinner with her sister days before she died, during which they discussed the separation.

Sophie Rook described her sister as her best friend and said they "trusted each other and confided in each other".

She added that she found her sister's partner George "quite sensitive" and "would be careful" about what she said around him.

At the end of 2013 Annabel Rook was living in Dumont Road with two of Sophie Rook's friends, and George moved in at a later date, the court heard.

The friends moved out, and Sophie Rook told the jury that in 2015 she thought her sister and George were arguing a lot more.

She said: "As the years went on they would communicate less and less in the house… although Annabel, I thought, was a very good communicator herself.

"She really wanted that relationship to work."

She added that in the last few years the couple were sleeping in separate rooms.

The court was told that Sophie Rook felt her sister and George would be better off going their separate ways in 2018, adding: "It just seemed to get worse and worse… her self-esteem took a nose-dive."

In 2024, after Annabel Rook and George had been to Glastonbury, she texted her sister saying "we definitely need to break up", the court heard.

Annabel Rook, the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, was the co-founder of a London-based social enterprise that supports refugee and migrant women.

The trial continues.

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