A JILTED former soldier raped and murdered his ex-girlfriend with a crossbow after killing her mother and later her sister, a court heard yesterday.
Kyle Clifford, 26, held Louise Hunt prisoner for almost three hours after stabbing her 61-year-old mother Carol to death with a specialist butcher’s knife.
Kyle Clifford is accused of raping his ex Louise Hunt during a triple murder[/caption]
Louise was restrained before being shot with a crossbow[/caption]
Her sister Hannah was also murdered in the horror[/caption]
Clifford also murdered their mother Carol (pictured with husband John Hunt)[/caption]
He bound and gagged 25-year-old Louise before raping her and fatally shooting her with a crossbow as her sister Hannah arrived home from work.
Clifford then used the deadly weapon to murder 28-year-old Hannah at the family home in Bushey, Herts, on 9 July last year.
The massacre of BBC 5 Live racing commentator John Hunt’s wife and two of his daughters came a fortnight after Louise ended her 18-month relationship with Clifford.
Clifford went on the run and was captured by armed police the following day at a cemetery near his home in Enfield, North London.
He shot himself with the crossbow, paralysing himself from the waist down, Cambridge crown court heard.
Clifford pleaded guilty in January to three counts of murder and false imprisonment.
He has also admitted two counts of having offensive weapons – the crossbow and a specialist butcher’s knife which he purchased after splitting up from Louise.
Clifford denies raping Louise and has declined to appear at his court, where Mr Hunt and surviving daughter Amy watched as the case was opened.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan, KC, told jurors: “The Prosecution’s case is that the defendant planned a terrible attack on Louise and her family, enraged as he was by her rejection of him.
“That attack included an act of sexual violence, committed out of spite, when she was restrained and unable to escape him from him.”
The court heard how Louise’s friends and family “hoped that the relationship would come to an end” after they became concerned about the way Clifford treated her.
Jurors were told that Louise told friends he had a “nasty tempter” and behaved in an “aggressive manner.”
Her sister Hannah described him as “disrespectful, rude and arrogant.”
The court also heard how Clifford had also been cheating on Louise and had been in relationships with two other women.
Ms Morgan said the relationship with Louise had come to an end by the time they attended a friend’s wedding in Scarborough on 23 June last year.
Afterwards Clifford sent Louise a message saying “I am not going to take s*** from you.”
He added : “I will be damned if I will ever beg for someone to love me…”
Further messages between the couple were exchanged before Louise finally ended the relationship on 26 June.
She told him in a text: “I hope you know how much I love you and still will for a long time.
“I never want there to be anything nasty between us ever.”
The court heard that Clifford showed no immediate signs of anger after Louise jilted him.
He messaged her back : “I love you so much and always will do. I will always be here for you. Take care of yourself.”
‘BEHAVIOUR CHANGE’
But prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said it was clear the defendant had not accepted the break up “in the amicable way” he had presented in his message.
She added: “From the moment of the break up his behaviour seemed to change.”
The court heard how on the same day he was jilted he began compiling a suicide note to his family on his phone.
He wrote: “Please don’t think of myself as throwing my life away..I have lived and am grateful to everyone to be a part of it. It is now time to leave…
“This is my decision to just be at peace…I love you all so much.”
And in a note to himself, he wrote: “I am so sorry I didn’t give myself a chance to move on past this and see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I don’t want to live my life without her. I don’t want to experience anything ….nothing can make me happy. I am sorry. Kyle.”
Within two days of being dumped, he had also begun assembling a murder kit, buying a 30 metre rope and researching crossbows and hunting knives online.
At the same time he accessed pornography, including a video of former HMP Wandsworth prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu, who admitted having sex with a prisoner last year.
Ms Moran said: “The prosecution say this is a very clear indication of violence and sexual implications.”
On July 3 he paid £357 for a Hori-Zone Komet MXT-405 Compound crossbow, pack of six bolts and a rope cocking device from an archery company which was delivered to his home.
He also bought a CO2 Glock Air pistol online for £244 which did not arrive before his killing spree.
John Hunt with his murdered wife Carol[/caption]
In addition he bought two petrol cans, two rolls of silver duct tape and a butcher’s knife on Amazon for £89, the packaging of which was found in a bin outside his home.
Ms Morgan said: “The Prosecution alleges that the above purchasing evidence shows the defendant’s careful planning of the attack that would later take place on 9 July.
“It was a plan for multiple murders which would include sexual violence to Louise while she was restrained by the defendant.”
The court heard how Louise compiled her own notes on why it was best not to be sad over the break-up with Clifford.
She wrote a list of his faults including racist comments he made and remarks about transgender people.
The court heard how Clifford drove to the Hunt home in his SEAT Ibiza car at lunchtime to carry out the attack.
After parking nearby, he sent a text to one of the women he was seeing behind Louise’s back, saying: “Sorry, Sam.”
Ms Morgan said he deceived Carol Hunt into letting him into the house just before 2.40pm after establishing John was not there.
He had also checked that day’s horse racing on his phone after initially noticing John’s car on the driveway.
Ms Morgan said Clifford had turned up with a white plastic bag containing a dressing gown and hoodie belonging to Louise, and a card thanking Carol and John for their “kindness and love,” as a ruse to be let in.
‘FAINT SCREAM’
A CCTV camera on the outside of the house captured some of the conversation between Carol and Clifford before she let him into the house.
Carol encouraged him to try and change “the way you are,” adding: “I don’t think you’re a nasty person.”
Ms Morgan said that a minute later Clifford pulled the 10-inch steel butcher’s knife from a rucksack and stabbed her to death.
Ms Morgan said a “long scream is followed by four shorter shouts” and then banging sounds over a three-minute period.
Carol was stabbed five times in the chest area and also had defence injuries having “struggled to get away from the defendant.”
The court heard how Clifford put Carol’s body under blankets in a snug room to the right of the front door.
Louisa, who ran a dog grooming business from home, was working in a pod in the garden and remained unaware of the attack.
Ms Morgan described how people came to fetch their dogs while oblivious to Carol’s murder.
Clifford, meanwhile, had gone back to his car to fetch the crossbow which he carried back to the house under a white blanket.
Louise finally went inside the house at 4.12pm – around 90 minutes after her mother was stabbed to death.
A “faint scream” was then heard on audio indicating “that she had been quickly in fear of what she saw or restrained” by Kyle Clifford.”
It was followed 13 minutes later “by a high pitch scream and male voice shouting two minutes after that.
Ms Morgan said Louise’ body was later found bound round the ankles and wrists with her arms behind her back and suggested she was also aged to “silence her.”
The prosecutor said Louise had then been with forensic evidence demonstrating “beyond all reasonable doubt that penetrative sexual activity took place.”
It was no possible to say where the rape took place in the house, Ms Morgan said.
While holding Louise prisoner, Clifford received a message on his phone from his sister asking if he was doing anything “illegal” with the crossbow and why had he taken it out.
‘BRAVE MESSAGE’
She asked “what are you playing at?” to which Clifford said he was at a friend’s house shooting in his back garden.
The court heard how Clifford went to the garden pod to retrieve Louise’ phone while she was gagged and bound.
He used the phone to research whether alcohol was flammable and also sent John Hunt a message asking when he would be back from work.
Clifford told his sister he was not doing anything “illegal” with the crossbow when she messaged to ask why he had taken it out.
She asked “what are you playing at?” to which Clifford said he was at a friend’s house shooting in his back garden.
Ms Morgan said Louise’s phone was also used by the defendant to search “if I unplug my smoke detector will it go off?”
She suggested the search showed Clifford had contemplated using fire to destroy evidence.
Clifford murdered Louise as beautician Hannah arrived home from work and parked outside the house.
A loud “whooshing noise, consistent with the crossbow being fired” was heard on the CCTV at 6.49pm.
Ms Morgan said that Louise was in the snug room – close to her mother’s body when she was fatally shot in the back with the crossbow while facing away from the defendant.
She added that Louise was likely to have been aware of her mother’s murder by then.
Hannah was heard on audio at the Hunt family home saying “Kyle, I swear to God” after finding him in the house.
The court heard how Hannah bravely messaged her partner, Alex Klein, telling him to “call police… immediately.
“To mine. Now. Kyle here. Police now. He’s tying us up.”
Ms Morgan said the “firing of the crossbow bolt that killed Hannah” was captured on audio at 6.54pm.
She managed to go upstairs before coming back down and being heard to say “Mum…Louise” as she found them in the snug room.
Hannah managed to dial 999 with her mother’s phone and identified Clifford as the attacker.
Ms Morgan said emergency services arrived at 7.10pm and found the bodies of Louise and Carol.
The prosecutor said: “Hannah Hunt was struggling for life at this time and resuscitation was attempted but was unsuccessful.”
A hunt was launched for Clifford and he was found the following afternoon at Lavender Hill Cemetery by firearms officers.
Ms Morgan said: “The defendant was approached by the firearms officers and a police dog.
“As they approached, the defendant shot himself with the crossbow.
“He then received surgery to remove the crossbow bolt from his chest.
“The injury has led to him being paralysed from the waist downwards.”
The court heard he was not fit to be interviewed by police until September last year.
Ms Morgan said that during the period Clifford was in hospital, he made the comments “Sorry” and “What I have done is atrocious.”
The court heard that Clifford will try to claim he had consensual sex on June 23 while they were on a wedding trip to Scarborough.
But Ms Morgan said scientific evidence suggested that was impossible and the couple’s relationship was already breaking up by then.
The trial continues.
