A man denied murder today after being accused of stabbing a BBC commentator’s wife to death and fatally shooting two of their daughters with a crossbow.
Kyle Clifford, 26, pleaded not guilty to killing Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of John Hunt, and two of their daughters, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25. The trio were found fatally injured at the family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on July 9.
Cambridge Crown Court heard Clifford, of Enfield, North London, is also accused of rape after the charge was added to the indictment against him today.
Clifford is further accused of one charge of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons – namely a crossbow and a 10-inch butcher’s knife.
The defendant, who appeared via videolink from HMP Belmarsh in South East London, entered his not guilty pleas to all charges except the new count of rape, for which he is not yet required to enter a plea.
A previous court hearing was told Louise had been found tied up when officers attended the property on Ashlyn Close.
Louise and Hannah Hunt had been shot with a crossbow and their mother Carol had been stabbed with a knife and suffered multiple injuries, the court was told.
A court artist’s sketch of Kyle Clifford appearing via videolink at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on September 17
John Hunt is pictured with his wife Carol, who was killed alongside two of their two daughters
Hannah Hunt was killed alongside her mother and sister in the crossbow attack in Bushey
Louise Hunt (pictured), sister of Hannah Hunt and daughter of Carol and John Hunt, was killed
The court also heard at the time that Hannah called the police and told them she feared she was going to die as she had been shot along with her sister and mother.
The false imprisonment charge alleges that Clifford ‘assaulted and unlawfully and injuriously imprisoned Louise Hunt and detained her against her will’.
Police were previously unable to speak to the suspect while he received treatment for an injury in hospital.
In Clifford’s last court appearance on November 28, he was seen at Cambridge Crown Court via videolink in a wheelchair from a small room at HMP Belmarsh.
Clifford has been under arrest since July 10, Hertfordshire Police said.
A photo issued by Hertfordshire Police of Kyle Clifford, 26, who has been charged with murder
Friends leave flowers on Ashlyn Close in Bushey, Hertfordshire, after the attack on July 11
Mourners attend a service at St James’s Church in Bushey on July 11 following the incident
A view of the scene on July 11 on Ashlyn Close in Bushey, where the Hunt family lived
Mr Hunt and his third daughter Amy previously issued a statement following the incident, which said: ‘The devastation we are experiencing cannot be put into words.’
In a further statement read to Sky Sports Racing viewers by his colleague Matt Chapman, Mr Hunt paid tribute to his ‘magnificently inspirational’ 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.’
