London — A 26-year-old man pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering a mother and her two daughters at their family home north of London last year. attack with crossbow and knife. Prosecutors said Kyle Clifford killed his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt, 25, and her sister Hannah Hunt, 28, with a crossbow before stabbing their mother, Carol Hunt, 61, to death on July 9.
Appearing via video link at Cambridge Crown Court, Clifford admitted three counts of murder, one count of false imprisonment and two counts of possessing an offensive weapon – a crossbow and a 10-inch knife. He pleaded not guilty to the rape of Louise Hunt.
Three women, part of the family of well-known BBC radio racing commentator John Hunt, were found with serious injuries at their home in the quiet residential area of Bushy in the north-east of the capital.
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Police and ambulance crews tried to save the three women, but they died at the scene.
Police launched a manhunt for the suspect before he was found injured in a cemetery in Enfield, north London.
Clifford, who has been in the military since 2019 for about three years, shot himself in the chest with a crossbow.
Hertfordshire Police / AP
The brutal killings have reignited debate in Britain over laws governing crossbow ownership. After the terrorist attacks, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that she is urgently considering whether stricter crossbow laws were needed, but no proposals have yet been put forward.
People in Britain do not need a license to own a crossbow, but it is illegal to carry a crossbow in public without a good reason, and it is also illegal for a person under the age of 18 to own a crossbow or to sell it to someone under 18.
In recent years, the weapon has been used in several high-profile crimes.
In December 2021, a would-be attacker with a loaded crossbow broke into Windsor Castle seeking to kill Queen Elizabeth II. Jaswant Singh Chail pleaded guilty to treason and was sentenced to nine years in prison last year.