US4 min(s) read
Published 14:40 01 Jul 2026 GMT
The mom of the British influencer who will possibly face a firing squad in Dubai has made a haunting admission about what happened in her daughter's boyfriend's flat.
As widely reported, Brooke George, 23, from Gravesend, Kent, was arrested after the death of her boyfriend, William Treeby.
The social media influencer is accused of fatally stabbing the 26-year-old British national.
It was reported that after the incident, George organized a flight home, but she was apprehended at Dubai International Airport as she tried to leave the country in the early hours of June 22.
She is now being held in the notoriously tough Bur Dubai prison, and could face the firing squad if convicted.
According to advocacy group Detained in Dubai, a pressure group that helps foreigners abroad, George travelled to the United Arab Emirates after meeting Treeby on Facebook and developing a relationship with him.
After a positive first visit, George travelled to the country again and claimed that's when the man became "increasingly controlling and abusive," and she found out that "he had only booked her a one way ticket, leaving her alarmed and wanting to return home".
"According to Brooke, after an evening at Caffreys Bar in Jumeirah Village, he became intoxicated and assaulted her in the car before continuing the attack after they returned to the apartment," the group said.
The influencer's family said George contacted them in a "state of panic after being repeatedly punched" and had "arranged a flight home" before returning to the apartment to recover her passport.
"The family say she was crying and begging for her passport's return when she was punched hard in the face and attacked. Brooke says she feared for her life and, reaching for a kitchen knife within her grasp, acted in self defence," the group said.
Detained in Dubai said George received "little explanation of the proceedings due to the language barrier," and alleged that she was "deprived of access to her embassy and forced to make statements in the absence of a lawyer".
The 23-year-old mother, Thereza George, said her daughter was "terrified" when she called home from the UAE in the hours before Treeby's death.
"The day before the incident, she wasn't herself. She was quieter than usual but wouldn't tell me why," she said. "That evening they went to a bar in Dubai. When I spoke to Brooke right after the incident, she was absolutely terrified."
"I have never seen my daughter so frightened. She was crying uncontrollably and I could see one of her eyes was badly swollen and beginning to close," she added.
The mom also revealed new details about the apartment where Brooke had been staying, saying her daughter was often left there alone while Treeby went out.
"The second time she flew out, those three days, she was on her own almost the whole entire time during the days, just being left at the apartment," she told The Sun. "There were other people there that lived with him. And they were coming in and out and going in and out together. But as far as she knew, that was to do with whatever business he was running out there."
According to Thereza, Treeby would regularly leave the apartment, telling George: "I've got to sort out work. I've got to go and meet someone," while spending time on his computer.
She said neither she nor her daughter ever knew exactly what his work in Dubai involved.
The mom also claimed another man drove the couple around during the influencer's second visit, unlike the first trip when the pair travelled by themselves.
Asked whether that individual had been interviewed by investigators, she replied: "I can say no is the answer. No. No availability, let's say that."
She added that Brooke had noticed a significant change in the atmosphere inside the apartment during her second stay.
"There were people talking. Conversations that they kept walking out for," she said. "The feel of the apartment and the other guys in there, the dynamic felt different."
The investigation is ongoing.
.webp_ke6C2y?tr=cr-169.8.1505.1344,f-webp,q-70,w-100)