The father of triple killer Kyle Clifford’s victims has told a court he wanted to face the cowardly murderer ‘eye to eye’ to tell him ‘they’re going to roll the red carpet out for you’ in hell.
Clifford, 26, raped Louise Hunt, 25, in a ‘violent, sexual act of spite’ and shot her with a crossbow days after she ended their 18-month relationship last summer.
He also used the weapon to kill her sister Hannah, 28, and a butcher’s knife to stab their 61-year-old mum Carol Hunt, who was married to BBC racing commentator John Hunt, on July 9 last year.
At Clifford’s sentencing hearing this morning, Mr Hunt said he wanted to deliver his victim impact statement ‘eye to eye with Kyle’.
He told the court: ‘The impact of what you have done will be taken to my grave. But on the way there, I want you to know that I stand strong before you today as you, Kyle, are consigned to a fate far greater than death.
‘I can draw on the love and strength that I still (have) from my girls in every moment of every day.’
He added: ‘Whilst I am badly damaged, I am absolutely determined to see what my future is surrounded by so many amazing people, and the chance to do that, I firmly believe, has been gifted to me by my incredible Hansie (Hannah Hunt).
‘I really believe that had she not managed to show such amazing physical and mental strength in raising the alarm after you, Kyle, fatally injured her, that I would have been your fourth victim that day.
‘Hannah handed me a second chance, one that she worked so hard to achieve for me.’
Addressing Clifford in his absence, he continued: ‘Whatever sentence you’re about to receive, whatever misery lies ahead for you in the next 60 years, remain that after your days on earth are done, on your dying day there will be no release for you Kyle.
‘The screams of hell, Kyle. I can hear them faintly now. They’re going to roll the red carpet out for you.’
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- Introducing This Is Not Right: Metro’s year-long violence against women campaign
- Yvette Cooper’s message to abusers and rapists: The streets don’t belong to you
- Remembering the women killed by men in 2024
- Stories about violence against women don’t make an impact – this is why
- Men – we need your help to end violence against women
- What to do if your loved one is at risk from domestic abuse
The grieving husband and father said his daughter Louise ‘conducted herself within a textbook mature break-up on her part, understanding the conflict of saying goodbye to someone she once loved, but not allowing those memories to cloud her certain knowledge that you, Kyle, simply failed to be the person she needed’.
Fighting back tears, he added: ‘I hope women round the world will take Louise’s bravery as a shining beacon for their lives.
‘If you feel enough is enough, then it is.’
Amy Hunt, John and Carol’s eldest daughter, broke down part-way through reading her statement, in which she said Clifford ‘decided your own fragile ego and pride were more important’ than the lives of her family.
‘You planned to take the lives of three women who have never done anything to hurt you and for what – you got dumped,’ she added.
‘That day, and every day leading up to it, Kyle, you had a choice and you chose to inflict violence on a horrific scale, all for your own selfish and sadistic aims.
‘All the time, truly thinking of yourself alone, I can only assume that in the days after Louise broke up with you in the kindest most respectful way… you created some kind of false narrative in your head about how we had supposedly wronged you in order to allow you to avoid confronting the pain and shame within you and the truth – that the break-up was entirely your fault.
‘That day, my mum, Hannah and Louise were all simply living their lives, getting on with their day in the home working or returning to their home after work.
‘Their home is a place that was and should have continued to be safe for them and you made it the most unsafe place in the world for those few hours – you are a monster.’
(Picture: Facebook)
Clifford’s sentencing hearing is taking place at Cambridge Crown Court, where he was found guilty of rape last week, having already admitted the three murders along with charges of false imprisonment and having offensive weapons.
Judge Mr Justice Bennathan told the court this morning the triple killer was asked to attend the hearing in person or by video-link but ‘refused’.
The court was specifically chosen for Clifford’s needs as the dock is wheelchair accessible.
He is paralysed from the chest down after turning the crossbow on himself as armed police closed in a day after the attack.
During the trial, jurors heard an ‘enraged’ Clifford started plotting the attack on July 9 last year days after Louise called an end to their 18-month relationship.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told them: ‘If he could not have her, no one else was going to, and he was going to take her family down with her.’
In the days before the attack, he had searched online for how to purchase a crossbow and accessed pornography.
Less than 24 hours before the murders, Clifford searched for the ‘violent misogyny promoted’ by controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate’s podcast.
Mr Justice Bennathan ruled jurors could not be told about the Tate videos because it would be ‘deeply prejudicial’, saying Mr Tate was ‘almost a poster boy for misogynists’.
Ms Morgan told the court today that a friend of Louise’s confronted Clifford about him watching one of Tate’s videos ‘which showed animals who had been drugged’.
The prosecutor said: ‘She asked the defendant why he was watching this – he said that it was funny.’
Addressing Clifford’s search for Tate’s podcast the day before the murders, Ms Morgan said: ‘As my Lord correctly noted… Andrew Tate can properly be described as a poster boy for misogynists – a poster boy for those who view women as possession to be controlled.
‘In that context, and in light of all the other background material, it is no coincidence, the prosecution submit, that it was Andrew Tate that the defendant turned to the night before he would go off to commit these acts of violence against women.’
Clifford also spoke to his brother, also in prison for murder, the day before the attack.
Ms Morgan said Bradley Clifford ‘asks him if he’s planning on going on the rampage or something’ with the crossbow.
She said Kyle Clifford said he bought it because ‘he’s got nothing to spend his money on and he’s spending money from a savings account, money he would usually spend on going out with Louise (Hunt), he spent money on some of this stuff instead’.
Clifford spent £350 ordering the crossbow, six bolts and a cocking device online. He also ordered an air gun, which never arrived, along with duct tape, a ‘high level butchering knife’ for £89 and a length of rope.
He gained access to the family home by deceiving Carol Hunt by claiming he was there to drop off some of Louise’s belongings.
After killing her in a ‘brutal’ attack, he ‘lay in wait’ for an hour for Louise to enter the house, before restraining, raping and ultimately murdering her with a crossbow.
He then fatally shot Hannah when she returned to the property in the quiet cul-de-sac of Ashlyn Close after work.
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The court was told a faint scream could be heard from the address shortly after Louise entered the house.
Hannah is heard on audio at the Hunt family home saying ‘Kyle I swear to God’ after returning home and appearing to find Clifford in the house.
The court heard Louise had ended her relationship with Clifford supported by her friends and family. She said he had a ‘nasty temper’ and behaved in an ‘aggressive manner’.
Following the killings, a brief manhunt was launched and Clifford, of Enfield, north London, was found in a cemetery near his home after shooting himself with the crossbow.
He spent 10 weeks in hospital with a round-the-clock police guard before he could be interviewed, on September 16 last year.
After the convictions, Chief Superintendent Jon Simpson said: ‘The scale of Kyle Clifford’s crimes is unprecedented in terms of male violence against women and girls and is totally shocking.’
Clifford showed no emotion when asked about the killings during his interview but appeared to choke back tears after he is asked about a note on his phone, written about himself.
In the self-pitying note, he wrote: ‘Please don’t think of this as me throwing my life away. I have lived and I am grateful for everything and everyone that has been a part of it.
‘It is now my time to leave and be at peace as this is what I ultimately want.
‘I know you will all have so many questions and wish you could have done something different to prevent this however none of you have failed and there is simply nothing any of you could have done.
‘This is my decision to just be at peace.
‘You all have to take care of each other and speak to each other because that will be the best thing for you all.
‘I love you all so much.’
He also refused to engage with questions about a note on his phone, addressed ‘to myself’, where he said: ‘I don’t want to live my life without her.’
Clifford wrote: ‘I don’t want to experience new things. Nothing I can think of can make me happy.
‘I know I could have gone to therapy, found faith and become a new better person but I just simply don’t want to.
‘I am so sorry I didn’t wait to move on and find my future wife, have the children I always wanted.’
Detective Chief Inspector Nick Gardner said Clifford ‘clearly knew there were healthy ways of dealing with the breakup’ but: ‘He chose not to take those paths. He simply “didn’t want to” do that.’
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