04 March 2025 , 14:31
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Triple killer Kyle Clifford raped his ex-girlfriend in a ‘violent, sexual act of spite’ before murdering her and her family with a crossbow, a court has heard.
Clifford ‘carefully planned and executed’ the murders in July when his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt, 25, ended the relationship and refused to get back together with him.
After arriving at the family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, he tricked mum Carol Hunt, 61, into letting him in before stabbing her to death in a ‘brutal knife attack’.
He waited for Louise to return home, before tying her up and violently raping her and shooting her with a crossbow, Cambridge Crown Court heard.
Customers of Louise’s dog grooming business where using the gate of the side of the house ‘not realising what was happening’.
As Hannah arrived home from work, Clifford shot and killed her as well.
Clifford admitted three counts of murder, one of false imprisonment against Louise Hunt, and two counts of possession of offensive weapons, but denies rape.
Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of John Hunt, Louise Hunt, 25, and Hannah Hunt, 28, all died in the attack last summer (Pictures: Hertfordshire Police/PA)
Carol was married to BBC horse racing commentator John Hunt (Picture: Facebook)
Opening the prosecution’s case, Alison Morgan KC told the jury: ‘It was a violent, sexual act of spite, before he then killed her.’
Cambridge Crown Court heard he was also angry with Louise’s family as they encouraged her to end the relationship.
Louise had told friends Clifford had a ‘nasty temper’, with sister Hannah thinking him to be ‘disrespectful, rude and arrogant’.
Clifford had also been in relationships with other women while he was dating Louise ‘which he hid’ from her, the court heard.
Louise made a note on her phone five days before the murders titled ‘When you’re sad, look’, which set out how Clifford was ‘racist’, and ‘commented he did not like transgender people’.
Ms Morgan said: ‘Louise instigated the end of the relationship, supported by her friends and family. This rejection angered the defendant.’
Officers taped off the scene after their bodies were found inside their family home (Picture: James Manning/PA Wire)
In the days leading up to the attacks, Clifford had searched for how to purchase a crossbow and had accessed pornography, including for a video of former HMP Wandsworth prison officer who had sex with an inmate.
In the days before attack, Clifford wrote a message to himself on his phone saying: ‘This is my decision to just be at peace. Please don’t think of me as throwing my life away – I have lived and I am grateful for everything and everyone who has been a part of it.
‘I know you will have so many questions and wish you could have done something different to prevent this. However none of you have failed.’
Clifford, of Enfield, north London, denies a single charge of rape.