Judge denies he was being racist when he named black Koi carp after boyfriend who killed his daughter

An Old Bailey judge has denied he was being racist by naming a black Koi carp after his daughter’s boyfriend before she was stabbed to death by him.

Judge Peter Rook insisted he abhorred racism and naming of the fish ‘Clifton’ had nothing to do with the fact that Clifton George, 45, is also black.

He said he apologised to George after the ‘misunderstanding’ and said he named the fish ‘to celebrate a mixed family,’ Snaresbrook crown court heard.

George believed the incident was racist but the retired judge insisted it was ‘taken out of context.’

The killer stabbed 46-year-old Annabel Rook, 46, during an argument at their home on Dumont Road in Stoke Newington, north London, on June 17 last year.

He punched her, tried to strangle her, then took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed Ms Rook 22 times before blowing their house up with a gas canister in an ‘enormous’ explosion, it is alleged.

George – admits arson and manslaughter but denies the murder of Ms Rook.

Ms Rook was the founder of social enterprise MamaSuze, which supports refugee and vulnerable women through community events in London.

Due to relationship difficulties, Ms Rook asked George to move out of the home for a trial separation days before he killed her and emailed her father to say she had made up her mind to leave.

Under cross examination today (Thursday), Judge Rook, dressed in a sand coloured suit and pink shirt, was challenged by defence counsel Mathew Sherratt KC over the naming of a ‘black fish’ called ‘Clifton’ who was one of the fish released into the judge’s newly dug pond between 2014 to 2015.

Jurors heard Judge Rook’s relationship with George was ‘on the whole good’, but the two clashed when it emerged the ‘small multicoloured Koi’ had been named after George in the judge’s presence.

Recalling the naming process, Judge Rook said the largest fish had been named after Clifton, but that it was a ‘brief conversation’ and he did not think much of it.

On the naming of the fish – which he conceded ‘certainly had black on it’ – Judge Rook said: ‘There were no racist connotations whatsoever.’

But he added: ‘I can see, taken out of context, it could be made to look racist’.

Because George thought the fish naming was racist, Judge Rook had made a phone call to him to apologise for the ‘misunderstanding’.

‘I remember clearly I had a phone call with him,’ he said.

‘It was deeply upsetting what he was suggesting. He said it was racist. I deplore racism. My family deplores racism,’ said Judge Rook.

But Mr Sherratt suggested the name had been a ‘running joke’ until around April 2017, when a family member said ‘Where’s Clifton?’ while George and others were gathered around the pond.

When George asked what they meant, the family member revealed ‘They called the fish Clifton’, said Mr Sherratt.

But Judge Rook disagreed with the timeline and denied having ‘any recollection’ of Mr Sherratt’s suggestion, insisting his confrontation with George had been in a phone call around 2015.

Mr Sherratt also suggested George had responded to Judge Rook by asking how ‘an insult based on race’ could be a ‘misunderstanding’

He claimed Judge Rook said ‘No, no, no’ and turned away in an ‘awkward silence’ for 20 seconds.

‘It’s not true,’ said Mr Rook, adding: ‘I’m sorry, but that’s a fabrication’.

Asked if he accepted naming the fish after George was a ‘joke’, Judge Rook said: ‘It was a not a good joke, and we have to be careful what we say, but there was no racial malice in it and when I spoke to Clifton on the phone he accepted that at the time.’

‘It was embarrassing, I remember it acutely,’ added Judge Rook.

Judge Rook said the ‘joke’ was ‘certainly not running’, adding: ‘I want to make it clear: we are appalled by racism. Annabel and Clifton were victims of people shouting at them sometimes because they were a mixed couple.

‘I am appalled by that. And ironically, we were extremely proud of Clifton joining our family and for this to have blown up in this way it’s very hurtful.’

But Mr Sherratt quizzed: ‘He was taking a black fish named after him out of context?’

Judge Rook responded: ‘Just a second. It might sound naive to you, but it was a celebration of a mixed family.’

With some incredulity, Mr Sherratt asked: ‘It was a celebration of a mixed family? A black fish named after Clifton?’

Judge Rook agreed the naming had the potential to drive a wedge in the family, but added: ‘That’s why I dealt with it the way I did.’

He agreed George was ‘probably sensitive about race’, but said he could not remember the family being introduced to any books about race to address perceived racism.

Mr Sherratt asked Judge Rook if he recalled his 90-year-old friend Malcolm calling George a ‘black b*stard’ during a social gathering.

Judge Rook could not remember the alleged incident, but said ‘it was possible I was concerned about something Malcolm had said’.

He said he was aware of George’s ‘difficult’ upbringing in London with time in care, including an incident with his mum, but denied this changed his view of him.

Judge Rook said he believed his daughter only told him about George’s difficulties to contextualise his behaviour.

He added it was ‘most unlikely’ and ‘quite ridiculous’ he failed to use George’s surname at the Christmas gathering, when Mr Sherratt claimed he had addressed other family members with their surname.

He said he could not remember whether a photo album received on his 70th birthday had not contained a single photo of George.

Defending himself against Mr Sherratt’s suggestions, Judge Rook said: ‘We embraced Clifton in the family. We loved him. We did all we could.

‘The suggestion we shunned him is just not true. It’s hard to think there’s more we could have done and I am sorry to hear this is now being suggested.’

Judge Rook said Ms Rook denied ever being physically harmed by George when he asked her directly.

But he said he once witnessed him enter the room ‘quivering with anger’ at a family gathering in Norfolk when he overheard Ms Rook claiming George had OCD.

Judge Rook said the outburst was ‘unusual’ – the first time he had seen anything like it in 12 years – and agreed it was ‘striking’ that it happened in front of them.

‘It was very concerning, I wish we had done more,’ said Mr Rook.

He said George spending less time with them during the later stage of his relationship with Ms Rook, despite multiple attempts to invite him on holiday to France.

George, an Arsenal season ticket holder, allowed Ms Rook to do most of the childcare duties, and would often spend game days in the pub before and after attending the Emirates for the match, the court heard.

Freya Colvin, partner Ms Rook’s brother Joshua, said both couples had lived on the same street in Stoke Newington since around 2015, and electrician George would help fix their house and invite them over for barbeques.

She said during a walk around Clissold Park Ms Rook had told her how George had become angry with her and he ‘got in her face’ and ‘pushed her’.

Ms Rook did not want her brother to get angry or concerned, so she chose not to tell him to ‘protect her little brother,’ Ms Colvin told jurors.

Ms Rook would also sometimes come over ‘in tears’, but Ms Colvin felt unable to challenge some of George’s behaviours because ‘he might think we were racist’, she told the court.

Under cross examination, Ms Colvin admitted she had triggered George’s reaction to the ‘unfortunate incident’ involving the black Koi fish by asking ‘Where’s Clifton?’ when family members were gathered around her father’s pond.

Ms Colvin said she was ‘mortified’ by the incident but denied remembering a ‘ripple’ of laughter breaking out among the group.

‘Every fish was named after a member of the family. I do not recall giggling,’ she said.

In the hours before her death, Ms Rook visited her brother’s home to speak to a lawyer about whether George had any entitlement to the house, Ms Colvin said.

After being told he did not, Ms Rook went home and later texted Ms Colvin.

Ms Rook’s asked her sister to bring over white printer paper and her djembe, an African drum, for her woman’s group meeting the next morning.

Ms Colvin said she walked past the house in her headphones later that night after netball and did not notice anything unusual, then slept through the gas explosion.

The first Ms Colvin heard her partner’s sister had been attacked was when police knocked on the door the next morning, she told the court.

The trial continues.