Overview
- Prosecutors say George killed Annabel Rook on 16 June 2025 after she told him she wanted to end their relationship, punching, attempting to strangle and then stabbing her multiple times before starting a fire that caused a gas canister explosion.
- Officers at the scene found George injured and he told them “because I killed her,” leading to his arrest on suspicion of murder and later arson charges.
- During the trial the court heard unsent letters, private notes, hundreds of messages and voice recordings from Rook that described a pattern of fear and control and showed her recent attempts to leave.
- A jury found George guilty of murder on 3 June and he was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 9 June 2026 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years after Mr Justice Constable rejected his loss-of-self-control defence.
- Police and Rook’s family have used the verdict to urge reporting and support for domestic-abuse victims while stressing that some media reports differ on the exact number of stab wounds reported but that the discrepancy did not affect the guilty verdict.