BBC commentator John Hunt’s family screamed and texted for help in the final hours of their lives before they were executed by savage crossbow killer Kyle Clifford.
Clifford bound 25-year-old former partner Louise Hunt’s arms and ankles with duct tape and shot her through the chest with a crossbow bolt at the family home in the quiet cul-de-sac of Ashlyn Close in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on July 9 last year.
The BBC’s star’s wife Carol Hunt, 61, sustained significant stab wounds to her knee, hands, back and torso – injuries that ultimately proved fatal.
His other daughter Hannah Hunt, 28, was found in the main doorway of the house – with a crossbow bolt lodged in her chest after she had texted her partner begging him to call 999.
Neighbours thought the screams had come from a distressed child. They later realised they were a woman’s desperate cries for help as the family was ambushed by a crossbow-wielding killer – and ultimately rendered silent.
Clifford, who served in the military from 2019 for around three years, became the subject of a manhunt before he was found injured at Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield, North London. He had shot himself in the chest with the crossbow.
Appearing via video link at Cambridge Crown Court today, Clifford pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, one of false imprisonment against Louise Hunt, and two counts of possession of offensive weapons – the crossbow and the knife.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of raping Louise, and will face a trial for this on March 3.
The killings and the subsequent manhunt played out over a horrifying 24 hours – from the moment Clifford entered the Hunt family’s home in Bushey to the second he was caught by police after firing a bolt into his own body.
The horror unfolded on the evening of July 9 after Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of BBC commentator John Hunt, and two of their daughters, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, were found fatally injured at their family home.
The typically quiet suburban cul-de-sac of Ashlyn Close in Bushey, Hertfordshire, was a mass of armed police, medical crews and air ambulances after police were informed Clifford was staging an attack in the house.
Medics attempted to save the three women, who sustained horrifying injuries, but they died at the scene. They bore signs of being bound.
Clifford had entered the house sometime around 6.30pm. Neighbours reported hearing screams, but had thought they belonged to a distressed child.
The screams stopped sometime afterwards – and only later did locals realise the screams had been urgent cries for help as the Hunts were confronted by the crossbow-wielding attacker.
Hannah had been able to text her boyfriend telling him she had been ‘tied up’ – and after being shot in the chest with a crossbow bolt was able to muster the strength to call 999.
At 6.50pm, Kyle Clifford was captured on CCTV walking away from the home. Police were called at about 7pm and arrived within moments. But by then, he was on the run.
One neighbour told MailOnline at the time how ‘absolute chaos’ broke out as armed police arrived.
She said: ‘It was between 6.30pm and 7pm and it sounded like kids, somebody screaming, and then it was more shrill and I was like, ‘That’s definitely a woman screaming’, and within 15 minutes, it was absolute chaos.
‘We had armed police running down, screaming, ‘Stay in your house’… they shut us off and basically put us into lockdown.’
The manhunt was launched with full force before news of the triple murder broke.
Commuters arriving into London train stations found their exit slowed by ranks of police who were scanning the crowds for Clifford, checking every face.
Hertfordshire Police announced at 8.30am the next day that they were looking for Clifford – who was named unusually early in the investigation as the suspect.
Members of the public were warned not to approach him, as detectives believed he was still armed with the crossbow.
And local schools in Enfield, in the north of the capital, were temporarily locked down as armed police staged a raid at Clifford’s home nearby.
One mother said: ‘They had cordoned off the road and were ushering people away from the house they were going into.
‘They had the full protective gear on, guns, shields and helmets – the kind you’d expect to see in riots.’
Officers later issue a direct plea to the killer to ‘make contact’. That afternoon, the identities of the victims are confirmed – and the BBC described the deaths as ‘utterly devastating’.
Around that time, at 3pm, the search zeroes in on the Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield after police find Clifford’s abandoned car nearby.
Armed police and paramedics were seen rushing into the graveyard an hour and a half later after finding Clifford with a crossbow bolt in his upper body.
Rae Cresswell, 26, a local who filmed the commotion, said: ‘I saw about ten officers coming in. I was quite worried because they were armed and there were dogs with them.
‘I asked them if they wanted me to leave but they said it was fine to stay. They started checking the area so I left shortly after and came back to see all these vehicles.’
Minutes later, Clifford was carried on a stretcher out of the cemetery and taken to hospital.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said following the attack she would look at whether tougher laws are needed on crossbows after the attack.
A consultation on the law had been launched in February last year – but ultimately, there was no mention of crossbows in the King’s Speech a week later.
Clifford underwent extensive surgery in hospital as friends of the Hunt family attended a vigil at St James’ Church in Bushey.
Searches then took place at a house linked to Clifford’s brother, Bradley Clifford, who was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years for the murder of moped passenger Soban Khan in 2018.
In the wake of the killings, domestic violence charity Refuge said a misogynistic culture at the root of violence against women and girls must be addressed.
And on July 13, four days after the brutal slayings, John Hunt broke his silence, thanking the public for their support as he and third daughter Amy said the devastation they were experiencing ‘cannot be put into words’.
They added: ‘We would like to thank people for their kind messages and for the support we have received in recent days.
‘These have provided great comfort to us for which we are very grateful.’
In a further statement read on Sky Sports Racing, he bravely said he would ‘get through this’ with his surviving daughter.
He said: ‘Notwithstanding the horrid evil that’s swept through our lives, wreaking devastation on an unimaginable scale, the counter to that has been the breathtaking messages of support, some of which are still to be read.
‘Amy, my eldest daughter, has been magnificently inspirational with her control and support for me, which I am trying, trying so hard, to replicate.
‘Every message has felt so important, the same as a reassuring hug. We know people are worried about us. We will get through this.’
Hertfordshire Police was left waiting to quiz Clifford on the killings after placing him under arrest. His poor health meant the usual time limits on holding someone in custody did not apply.
A GoFundMe page set up to support Hunt and Amy passed its target of £100,000 towards the end of July – and a harrowing inquest into Hannah’s death on July 30 heard Hannah was still alive when police arrived.
The opening of an inquest hears Hannah was still alive and had a crossbow bolt in her chest when police arrived.
She was able to text someone pleading for help, telling them she had been ‘tied up’ at the family home. Hannah was then able to call 999, reporting that she had been shot, as had her mother and sister.
On September 17, Clifford was charged with three counts of murder, false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons.
He then appears at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, which is told Louise had been tied up in the incident which saw her and Hannah shot with a crossbow and Carol suffer multiple injuries in a stabbing.
The court also hears Hannah called the police and told them she feared she was going to die.
He later appears at Cambridge Crown Court via videolink from HMP Belmarsh where he pleads not guilty to three counts of murder, one charge of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons.
He is also further charged with raping Louise, but is not yet required to enter a plea for this charge.
But earlier today, the killer dramatically changed his pleas, admitting three counts of murder, one count of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons at Cambridge Crown Court.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of raping Louise Hunt, for which he will face a trial beginning March 3.
