A 26-year-old man has admitted to fatally stabbing the wife of BBC commentator John Hunt and killing his two adult daughters with a crossbow at their home just north of London last year.
Appearing via video link at Cambridge Crown Court, Kyle Clifford pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three counts of murder, one count of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons.
It marked a reversal of Clifford’s initial plea, denying responsibility for the slayings of 61-year-old Carol Hunt, his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt and her 28-year-old sister Hannah Hunt.
All three women were found suffering serious injuries inside their home, tucked away in the quiet residential neighborhood of Bushey, on the night of July 9.
Police responded to the residence around 7 p.m., following a phone call from Hannah, who told them she, her mother and her sister had been shot. She said she was afraid “she was going to die,” Prosecutor David Burns told the Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Despite life-saving efforts administered by police and first responders, Carol Hunt and her two daughters were pronounced dead on the scene. A third daughter, Amy, was meanwhile not harmed.
The deadly violence sparked an intense manhunt for the killer, which culminated in Clifford’s arrest the following day. Authorities eventually found him seriously injured at Lavender Hill Cemetery near his home Enfield and some 15 miles away from the crime scene.
Clifford, who served in the military for about three years starting in 2019, shot himself in the chest with the crossbow, police said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has since said she was mulling whether tougher crossbow laws were needed, citing the deadly violence, but no proposals have yet been put forward.
Crossbows are legal in the U.K., albeit with strict stipulations for use and display.
In wake of the attack, John Hunt and his surviving daughter issued a statement, saying “the devastation we are experiencing cannot be put into words.”
Hunt is a veteran horse-racing commentator for the BBC and Sky Sports, his voice known to millions through his coverage of races including the Grand National.
Though pleading guilty to the other charges on Wednesday, Clifford pleaded not guilty to a count of raping Louise Hunt. A trial on that charge is set to begin March 3.
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