Murder-accused man denies having 'short fuse'

A Crossrail worker accused of murdering his partner before triggering a gas explosion at their home has denied having a "short fuse".

Clifton George, 45, stabbed charity worker Annabel Rook, 46, to death at their home in Dumont Road, Stoke Newington, north London, before starting a fire that set off a gas canister blast.

He admitted manslaughter and arson but denied murder, blaming the killing on a loss of self-control.

Giving evidence at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday, George accused Rook of repeatedly "throwing insults" at him about the abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of his mother.

He claimed she would "flip out" and threaten to end their relationship "over minor issues", and would shout and point in his face during rows.

Prosecution witnesses have accused George of harbouring "unreasonable rage" and frequently losing his temper during the couple's ten-year relationship.

He told the court: "I don't think I've got a short fuse. Yes, I have lost my temper, but not often. If we were having an argument, I would raise my voice back."

Prosecutors allege George grabbed his partner around the neck and stabbed her 22 times with a kitchen knife as their relationship was crumbling.

Rook co-founded a London-based social enterprise, MamaSuze, which supports refugee and migrant women through art and drama workshops.

George told jurors he worked as an electrician on Crossrail, the Northern Line extension and the Leadenhall Building, known as the Cheese Grater.

Born in Hackney and raised in Whitechapel, east London, he said he had suffered violent abuse as a child at the hands of his mentally-ill mother.

On one occasion she poured water from a kettle over him for playing football indoors, he said, and on another she swung him three times into a door. He was taken into care after the second incident and never saw her again.

George also said he had found his infant sister dead in her cot as a child, leaving him with night terrors and a fear of touching things.

He told the court Rook had turned on him "out of nowhere" as they returned to their apartment from a night out on holiday in Antigua.

"Annabel started to abuse me about my childhood and the trauma I had suffered," he said. "She was saying stuff like I'm damaged, I'm broken, I didn't know how to be in a relationship because of what my mother did to me. It was just nasty."

The court has heard Rook had told friends and family she was considering leaving George, and had asked him to move out shortly before her death on 16 June last year.

Her body was found after an explosion tore through the house. George was found in the garden attempting to stab himself.

He denies murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson.

The trial continues.

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