An electrician who killed his partner by stabbing her 22 times has denied murder.

Clifton George, 45, blamed the killing on a loss of control and denied claims he often lost his temper during a ten-year relationship with charity worker Annabel Rook, 46.

George killed Ms Rook at their home in north London, before starting a fire which triggered a gas canister blast.

He admits manslaughter and arson on June 16 last year, but denies murder. He told Snaresbrook Crown Court that immediately after stabbing Ms Rook 'I kneeled down in front of Annabel's body and I just started to cry, I couldn't believe it'.

Later that night, George set off a gas canister in the basement. He claimed that this was a suicide attempt and the resulting explosion 'blew me across the house'.

Ms Rook, the daughter of retired Old Bailey judge Peter Rook, was the co-founder of a London-based social enterprise called MamaSuze, which supports migrant women with art and drama activities.

The couple had argued that evening, George said, as their relationship crumbled.

During the row, Ms Rook pushed his head and he 'just lost control', he claimed. 

George, who said he worked as an electrician on the Crossrail project in London, 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 continued: 'I don't recall going into the kitchen, but I would have done because that's where the knives were. All I can recall is Annabel standing there, by the bay window, and she had blood on her chest and on her face.'

Mathew Sherratt KC, defending, asked where the blood came from, and George said: 'Where she had been stabbed, she had been stabbed by me.

'I remember standing there… and I was like maybe two or three yards away from her, then she started walking towards me with her hands out, I backed away.'

Ms Rook then 'fell to her knees with her hands in the air', he said.

George said he dropped the knife, telling jurors: 'I just couldn't believe it, she was dead, I could see it in her eyes, she was dead.'

He hung his head in the witness box as he described kneeling by her body and crying, where he said he remained for about 20 minutes.

The defendant said he then took the same knife and tried to cut his wrists.

Later he took a gas canister from the garden pizza oven and used it to cause an explosion in the basement in what he claimed was another attempt to end his life.

The explosion 'blew me across the house, I went flying', he said.

The court has heard Rook had told friends and family she was considering leaving George, and had asked him to move out of the Stoke Newington property shortly before her death. 

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

The trial continues.