Triple murderer Kyle Clifford subjected ex-girlfriend Louise to a “violent, sexual act of spite” before brutally ending her life.
The cowardly killer, who refused to attend his sentencing today, will die in prison after massacring three members of the Hunt family and raping his ex partner. The 26-year-old admitted murdering Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah, 28, and their mother Carol, 61, in cold blood at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire on July 9, last year.
But ex-army serviceman Clifford had denied raping Louise, the daughter of BBC sports commentator John Hunt, before killing her, claiming DNA found on his former partner had been from consensual sex – an assertion that horrified legal experts and women’s campaigners.
Following a trial last week at Cambridge Crown Court, it took jurors mere minutes to return a guilty verdict for rape. At his sentencing today, the judge opened by stating Clifford would receive a rare whole life order – meaning he will never be eligible for parole.
Clifford spent 13 days meticulously plotting how to kill the women after Louise had bravely ended their ‘controlling’ relationship, where she told him to “take care of yourself.” Judge Mr Justice Bennathan said Clifford’s crimes were “dreadful” and “almost unspeakable”.
Providing a witness statement in court, heartbroken father John Hunt said: “I want to confirm to the world the truth, especially how Louise conducted herself within a textbook mature break-up on her part, understanding the conflict of saying goodbye to someone she once loved, but not allowing those memories to cloud her certain knowledge that you, Kyle, simply failed to be the person she needed. You failed.”
He added: “I am so proud of all my girls. Unlike you, Kyle, at every step of their lives, they made the correct choices to improve themselves as people. Louise, she enjoyed more success and fulfilment in one morning than you achieved in your entire miserable life.”
Here, the Mirror takes a look at the haunting final hours of Louise Hunt, remembered by loved ones as caring, positive and happy”.
Leaving work
The day of the attack began in an ordinary fashion. Louise’s father, John Hunt, a well-known racing commentator for the BBC, had headed out to work, as had her beautician sister, Hannah. Animal lover Louise ran a dog grooming business from the Hunt family home and had that day been working from a ‘pod’ in the garden.
At one point, she texted mum Carol to place a lunch order on Deliveroo from Joe and the Juice. As the court would later hear, an alleyway down the side of the family home meant Louise’s customers continued to drop off their pets, completely unaware of Clifford’s stabbing of her mother. It was from this pod that she stepped into the house of horrors.
Mum’s final warning
CCTV showed him arriving at the Hunt family’s home at 2.30pm on July 9 last year and tricking Carol into letting him inside. Using a deceptive “ruse” to get inside the house, Clifford carried a white plastic bag containing some of Louise’s possessions, playing the part of an ex looking to move on peacefully. Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told jurors: “It was a very careful plan to get himself into the address. The plastic bag is the ruse to persuade Carol to let him in the house.”
Carol was the one who opened the door to Clifford, who told her he’d written “a card to say bye”. In a card penned to Carol and John, Clifford thanked them for allowing him to be “part of the family for 18 months”, adding: “Your family has shown me love and kindness.”
The conversation that followed was picked up in a recording. With no clue what vile Clifford was really up to, Carol was heard telling him: “Maybe, maybe think in the next relationship… the way you are and maybe try and change [inaudible]. If you carry on like this you’ll end up on your own.”
Continuing his sickening false act, Clifford said: “I’ve started therapy as well”. It was then that Carol showed empathy towards Clifford, telling him: “I don’t think you’re a nasty person” and “Well I wish you luck Kyle.” He then asked for a bag to put Louise’s possession in.
It was then that things took a devastating turn. The jury heard that, within a minute of being let inside the property, a series of screams could be heard. Carol “died rapidly” from stab wounds to her chest and stomach.
Mrs Morgan told the court: “The defendant committed a violent attack on Carol. As we will come to, Carol sustained significant knife wounds. The evidence suggests that she struggled to get away from the defendant. Although it is not possible to know precisely when Carol died, she is likely to have died rapidly after the infliction of these injuries.”
She added: “Carol Hunt died before Louise Hunt came to enter the property. Carol Hunt would come to be found in the snug room to the right of the front door.”
After knifing Carol, remorseless Clifford returned to his car to collect a crossbow, which he carried back to the house, concealed beneath a white blanket. He then lay in wait for an hour for Louise to enter the property before “restraining, raping and ultimately murdering her”.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told jurors that it was “most likely she (Louise Hunt) was aware that her mother had been murdered by the defendant”.
Held captive
When Louise entered the home at 16:13, Clifford began the next part of his sick plan. Audio taken at the Hunt family home picked up a “faint scream” from Louise, which “indicated that she had been quickly in fear of what she saw or quickly restrained”, by Clifford.
Mrs Morgan told the court that Louise “would later be found to be restrained at the ankles and at the wrists by taping”. She added that it was “also alleged she was gagged”. Clifford held Louise captive for nearly three hours, during which time he carried out a “violent, sexual act of spite” before killing her with the crossbow.
Sickening rape
Summing up the prosecution case, Mrs Morgan told the jury that Clifford’s attack had been motivated by “anger and spite” following Louise’s decision to end their 18-month relationship. Ms Morgan told the court: “If he wanted Louise, he would have her, rape her and murder her and members of her family.”
The barrister then pointed to the fact that Clifford had purchased duct tape beforehand, indicating he was plotting an act involving her restraint. She said: “If he could not have her, no one else was going to, and he was going to take her family down with her.”
Noting that Clifford’s planning involved “sexual violence as a means of acting out in spite in a final act before Louise’s death”, Mrs Morgan remarked that there had been an “overlap between violence and sexual thoughts”.
This was demonstrated by Clifford searching for a crossbow, before looking at pornography, in what Mrs Morgan described as the “marrying up of thoughts of extreme violence with sexual desire and fulfilment”. She concluded: “It’s how he views women and why sexualised violence is an important part of the attack. Relationships are part of the story but it really does come to a head through that search as someone who sees the world through that viewpoint.”
Sister’s final attempt to escape
Shortly before 7pm, elder sister Hannah Hunt returned home to find Kyle in the house. Audio picks up Hannah saying “Kyle, I swear to God”. Mrs Morgan told the court how Hannah had messaged her partner, Alex, telling him to “call police… immediately. To mine. Now. Kyle here. Police now. He’s tying us up.” The “firing of the crossbow bolt that killed Hannah” was also captured on audio.
Clifford, who served in the military from 2019 for around three years, fled the scene and became the subject of a huge manhunt for a number of hours before he was found injured in Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield, north London. He had shot himself in the chest with the same crossbow he used to kill Louise and Hannah, which left him paralysed from the chest downwards.
If you would like to seek help, you can visit the Women’s Aid information support page on their website here. Survivors can also reach help through the Solace Advice Line by calling 08088025565 or by emailing them at advice@solacewomensaid.org. Alternatively, you can also contact A-Sisterhood via call on 07968369588 or by email at paula@a-sisterhood.org.uk.
If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or by calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
