Kyle Clifford murdered two of his three victims with a crossbow he ordered a week before the attacks.
Kyle Clifford murdered two of his three victims with a crossbow he ordered a week before the attacks.
Kyle Clifford was sentenced to a whole life order for murdering Louise Hunt, her sister Hannah, and their mother Carol.
Clifford, who is paralysed, refused to appear in court; the judge deemed forcing him inappropriate.
The Hunt family expressed their anguish, describing Clifford’s actions as ‘demonic’ and ‘monstrous’.
The BBC racing commentator John Hunt said “hell would roll out the red carpet” for the man who killed his wife and two of his daughters in a knife and crossbow attack after he refused to appear in court.
Kyle Clifford killed his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah, 28, and their mother Carol, 61, at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on July 9 last year.
On Tuesday, at Cambridge Crown Court, the 26-year-old was sentenced to a whole life order for the murders, meaning he will never be released.
Hunt said that while his own suffering would last for the rest of his life, Clifford’s torment would last “for eternity”.
Clifford stabbed Carol with a 25cm butcher’s knife before hiding her body and waiting over an hour for Louise to come in from the back garden, where she was working in her dog grooming pod.
He then gagged, restrained and raped her before killing her with a crossbow.
Kyle Clifford was ‘fuelled by misogyny’ as he killed his ex-partner Louise Hunt, 25
Hannah returned home seconds after Louise was killed, and Clifford shot her dead before fleeing.
After thanking the jurors for listening to the harrowing evidence during the trial, Hunt told the judge he had wanted to deliver his victim statement “eye to eye with Kyle”.
“I will continue to act as if I am doing so,” he said.
Hunt said he wanted Clifford to remember that “whatever misery lies ahead, after your days on earth are done, on your dying day, there will be no release for you”.
“The screams of hell, Kyle. I can hear them faintly now. They’re going to roll the red carpet out for you,” he said. “At that point, when the person you could have been meets the person you are, you will realise your miserable fate will last for eternity.”
Amy Hunt, Hunt’s only surviving daughter, said that what Clifford had inflicted on her mother and sisters was “demonic”. She said it was incomprehensible he had murdered three innocent women simply because Louise ended their relationship.
“I suppose that is what separates you from us Kyle. The Hunt family are human and you are not.”
Clifford, who is now paralysed from the chest down after shooting himself, refused to leave his cell at HMP Belmarsh or even appear via video link for the sentencing.
The judge, Justice Joel Bennathan, said that restraining wheelchair-bound Clifford and forcing him into court where he might disrupt proceedings “simply was not appropriate”.
Louise (left), Carol (centre) and Hannah Hunt were killed by Kyle Clifford
“If the defendant lacks the courage to face today, so be it,” he said.
Sentencing him to three whole life orders, one for each of the murders, Justice Bennathan said the Hunt family had shown a “gentle heroism” of which Clifford “could only dream”.
He said Clifford was a “jealous man soaked in self-pity – a man who holds women in utter contempt”.
Hunt said his family had initially welcomed Clifford with open arms, taken him to Sunday pub lunches, and even spent one Christmas together.
“What was it about that blissful existence you hated so much, Kyle? Could you not handle how pleasant it all was?” he said.
Hunt said his wife, Carol, had been especially kind to Clifford, despite “immediately picking up on his inadequacies”.
He said: “She still displayed compassion right up until the moment she answered the door to you on July 9. Do you remember her kindness, Kyle? How she urged you to get some relationship help and guidance for fear that you would never be able to sustain a lasting relationship?
“You calmly accepted that advice on the doorstep and then literally seconds later, savagely stabbed her eight times and ended her life.”
‘Belittling and sexist behaviour’
Hunt said Louise had left Clifford on June 26, 2024 after deciding “enough is enough” and becoming fed up with his “belittling” and sexist behaviour.
It previously emerged that Clifford had watched videos of self-confessed misogynist Andrew Tate in the days leading up to the killings.
The court heard that Clifford, who claimed to be a former soldier, had trained in the Army for two years from 2020 to 2022.
However, his commanding officer said his potential was “minimal” and he had “no care or concern beyond himself”.
Hunt said that as a child, Louise’s favourite novel had been Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.
The racing commentator, whose recognisable voice trembled momentarily as he spoke, said she had been “captivated” by the goodness of the book’s protagonist, Atticus Finch, and often quoted from it.
He said one quote that seemed relevant was the moment Miss Maudie Atkinson repeats Finch’s assertion that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird as they do nothing but “make music for us to enjoy”.
Hunt said: “All their lives Hannah, Louise and Carol brought joy and colour and happiness to other people’s lives. You killed three beautiful mockingbirds, Kyle.”
Hunt said that if Hannah had not managed to call the police before she died of her injuries, he “firmly believed” he would have been Clifford’s fourth victim.
“Hannah handed me a second chance. Do you really think after what she did for me, I will slight her memory and example by just giving up?”
Hunt said that during the attack, Clifford had spent four hours in his house before shooting Louise in the back.
“I cannot imagine a more cowardly act. You couldn’t look her in the eye.”
A week after the killings, Hunt said he, too, spent four final hours with his daughters and his wife – but in the funeral parlour. He said he held his daughters’ hands while they lay in coffins on either side of him before he went over to his wife and stroked her hair and told her he loved her.
Amy, who, like her father, addressed Clifford directly as if he was in court, said she would never comprehend how he could commit such “monstrous” acts.
“You, Kyle, decided your own fragile ego and pride were more important than three meaningful and productive and much-loved lives.
“You planned to take the lives of three women who never hurt you and for what? Because you got dumped.”
She said that what he had done to Louise was “nothing short of demonic”.
Alex Klein, Hannah’s boyfriend, rushed to the scene of the attack after she texted him while dying to try to save her and fight off Clifford.
Amy said: “If you ever wonder how a true man behaves towards women, Kyle, that may give you some indication.”
Klein said Clifford was “sadistic”, adding: “You are a weak and insecure boy who compulsively lied and tried to commit suicide, always looking for the easy way out rather than facing the truth.”
Amy and Hunt said that Clifford’s family should also feel guilt for what he had done, as they were aware he had bought the crossbow.
Clifford told his brother Bradley, who is also in prison serving a life sentence for murder, that he had got hold of a “proper f****** deadly” knife.
His brother asked him if he was “planning on going on a rampage or something”, to which Clifford responded he had nothing else to spend his money on now he had broken up with Louise.
Lisa Kiff, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Kyle Clifford is a murderer and rapist, who at every turn has attempted to escape the gravity of his actions.
“From seeking to evade arrest, to not attending his trial or the sentencing hearing today – his lack of remorse and accountability for the truly inhumane crimes he committed has been laid bare.”
Clifford is the latest murderer to refuse to face his victims’ family in court during sentencing. Axel Rudakubana, who killed children in Southport, also avoided facing the loved ones of his victims during his sentencing.
Criminals forced to attend hearings
However, judges could soon have powers to force criminals to appear in the dock when they are sentenced.
The change in the law is expected to be made in the Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill, which will be laid in Parliament in the next few months.
Starmer has promised to carry on the pledge to change the law, first made by his predecessor Rishi Sunak.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said that criminals who did not attend their sentencing hearings were “cowardly”.
They added: “Criminals who refuse can face being locked up for longer, ensuring that they face justice rather than hiding away from the grief and anger of their victims’ families but it’s important to say that judges will always have the power to make decisions when this power should and shouldn’t be used.”
