Triple killer Kyle Clifford tricked his way into his ex-lover’s home after telling her mum he was “just dropping off some stuff”. Clifford was repeatedly caught on camera on the day he fatally shot his former partner and her sister with a crossbow and stabbed their mother to death with a butcher’s knife. Footage was today shown to Cambridge Crown Court showing Clifford parking his car in streets near the family home of his ex-partner, Louise Hunt, before strolling to the address in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and knocking the door.
He was then caught on camera at the front of the home, in Ashlyn Close, shows the 26-year-old on the doorstep on July 9 last year, and audio recorded his conversation with his former partner’s mother. He is dressed all in black, wearing a rucksack and holding a white plastic bag. Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of racing commentator John Hunt, answers the door and Clifford says he is “just dropping off some of Louise’s stuff”.
Don’t miss…
Louise Hunt The three women ‘murdered’ with a crossbow in their home in Bushey have been identifie (Image: -)
Mrs Hunt asks Clifford how he is and he replies: “I’m good, thank you. What’s wrong? You look like…” Mrs Hunt responds: “I’ve seen a ghost.”
Prosecutors told the jury that Clifford deceived Mrs Hunt to gain access to the address and then took a knife from his backpack to kill her. In audio, Clifford says he has got them a card “to say bye” and has brought items to return.
Alison Morgan KC, prosecuting, said: “As the defendant went into the door he took the backpack from his back and he spoke of the card.”
Further CCTV footage shows him leaving the address – to collect the crossbow from his car – returning with it hidden under a sheet and letting himself back into the house with a key.
Jurors were told he waited at the house with the crossbow to kill his 25-year-old former partner, who had been working in a dog grooming pod in the garden, and her 28-year-old sister, Hannah Hunt, when she returned home from work.
The defendant previously admitted three counts of murder, one of false imprisonment against Louise Hunt, and two counts of possession of offensive weapons – the crossbow and the knife.
Clifford, of Enfield, north London, denies a single charge of rape, against Louise Hunt.
Mr Hunt watched proceedings from the public gallery on Wednesday, and a woman left the public gallery in tears after the footage at the doorstep of the family home was played.
Jurors were earlier shown footage of Clifford at a garden centre in Enfield on the morning of the day of the murders. Detective Constable Alex Leckie said Clifford was at the garden centre with his mother, father and niece.
She said the killer received an incoming call, which went to voicemail, from a woman “the defendant was in another relationship with at that time”. Jurors were also shown footage of Clifford at a gym on July 5.
Undated handout photo issued by Hertfordshire Police of Kyle Clifford, 26, who is wanted in connecti (Image: PA)
BBC Racing Commentator John Hunt wife Carol Hunt https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10153824526439 (Image: Facebook)
Don’t miss…
Clifford was previously caught on CCTV buying rope and petrol cans as he plotted the massacre. In footage shown to the jury at Cambridge Crown Court, the jilted ex-soldier amasses his murder kit days before the massacre.
After his sick shopping trip in Enfield, North London, he then talked his way into the Hunts’ home in Bushey, Herts, last July 9 to carry out the slaying. Having fatally stabbed his ex’s mum in the back, torso, knee and hands with a 10-inch butcher’s knife, Clifford, 26, lay in wait for Louise and Hannah.
Unaware her mother had been killed, Louise returned from the garden, from where she ran her dog-grooming firm. Clifford then allegedly subjected Louise to a harrowing nightmare lasting two-and-a-half hours during which he bound her hands and feet with duct tape and raped her, the court heard.
He is accused of using her phone to text her dad John, asking when he would be home, to which Mr Hunt replied: “Late, I’m afraid.”
Soon afterwards, Clifford shot Louise through the chest with his crossbow. A postmortem was carried out and forensic tests using intimate swabs indicated Louise had been raped, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC told the court.
She added that he was furious after being rebuffed by Louise: “This rejection angered the defendant. He was angry at Louise, but also at the Hunt family generally, as he correctly assumed that friends and family members had advised Louise to end the relationship with him.
“The attack was carefully planned and executed, involving the deceit of Louise’s mother Carol Hunt, in order to gain access to the family home, followed by a brutal knife attack.”
Clifford admits the triple murder but denies raping Louise, who had dumped him after he boasted about sleeping with other women. He claims he had consensual sex with Louise 16 days prior.
Victim Hannah Hunt (Image: Facebook)
Moments after Clifford had shot Louise, beauty therapist Hannah returned and found the killer in her home, jurors heard, Mrs Morgan said Hannah texted her partner Alex Klein, saying: “Call police leggy. Immediately. To mine. Now. Kyle here. POLICE NOW. HE’S TYING US UP.”
After confronting Clifford, he then shot her with the crossbow, the court was told. Still able to move around, Hannah is thought to have found her mum and sister dead in the snug, and screamed, “Oh my God, no!”
Jurors were told Hannah called 999 and identified Clifford as the attacker. Paramedics were unable to save her and she died at the scene. Clifford fled but after a 24-hour manhunt was found by firearms officers at Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield.
As the police approached him, Clifford shot himself in the chest with the crossbow, leaving himself paralysed from the chest down. Clifford, from Enfield, met “caring, positive and happy” Louise on a dating site, the court was told. But friends and family grew concerned about the relationship, prosecutors claim.
One of Louise’s pals said Clifford had a nasty temper, while another said he was “disrespectful, rude and arrogant”, Mrs Morgan told jurors.
She added: “They hoped that the relationship would come to an end. A friend of Louise became aware that Louise wanted to end it. Louise had told her about the defendant’s behaviour towards her and that she had come to realise he was not a person that she wanted to be with.”
In January, Clifford admitted to murdering Louise, Hannah and Carol, as well as the false imprisonment of his ex and possession of the knife and crossbow. However, he denies raping Louise before killing her.
Mrs Morgan told jurors: “The only count for you to determine is that of rape. The prosecution’s case is that the defendant planned a terrible attack on Louise Hunt and her family, enraged 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. The forensic evidence that was discovered is not a historic artefact of previous sexual intercourse between them.”
Phil Bradley KC, defending, said: “Mr Clifford denies the rape took place. His case is that he and Louise had sexual intercourse on June 23, on the day they returned from his friend’s wedding.”
The trial continues.