A former soldier accused of murdering a woman and her two adult daughters at their family home has been further charged with raping one of the women killed.
Kyle Clifford, 26, is accused of fatally stabbing Carol Hunt, 61, the wife of the BBC 5 Live commentator John Hunt, and shooting dead Louise Hunt, 25, and Hannah Hunt, 28, with a crossbow in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on 9 July.
Clifford, from Enfield, north London, is accused of one charge of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons, namely a crossbow and a 25cm (10in) butcher’s knife.
Clifford appeared at Cambridge crown court via videolink from HMP Belmarsh on Thursday. He entered a not guilty plea to the charges already lodged against him. During the hearing, he was further charged with the rape of Louise Hunt. He is not yet required to enter a plea on this charge.
A previous court hearing heard Louise Hunt had been found tied up when officers attended the property. The false imprisonment charge alleges Clifford “assaulted and unlawfully and injuriously imprisoned Louise Hunt and detained her against her will”.
The sisters had been shot with a crossbow and their mother had been stabbed with a knife several times, the court was told. An inquest found that Hunt died from stab wounds to her chest and abdomen, and her daughters died from crossbow injuries.
Clifford previously served with the British army in the Queen’s Dragoon Guards. He was found with injuries the day after the attacks, in a cemetery in Enfield.
Hunt and his third daughter, Amy, issued a statement after the attack, saying: “The devastation we are experiencing cannot be put into words.”
A provisional trial date has been confirmed for 3 March 2025.
