Police are investigating whether a “crossbow killer” held his three women victims captive for hours.
They are waiting to question suspect Kyle Clifford who remains in a serious condition in hospital. His ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah, 28, and mother Carol, 61, are thought to have been tied up and shot dead with a crossbow at their Hertfordshire home.
Murder squad officers believe suspect Clifford may have been in the house for hours armed with a crossbow and other weapons.
He was in the area for seven hours before the murders but investigators have yet to pin down exactly how long he was in the house in Ashlyn Close, Bushey, where the three family members were killed on Tuesday.
Neighbours have said Louise Hunt and Clifford had recently split up in “messy” circumstances and that a week before the killings she had crashed her car into a telephone pole in a state of emotional distress over the break-up.
Former soldier Clifford, 26, was found on Wednesday in a cemetery close to his home in Enfield, north London, after a police manhunt.
He had suffered self-inflicted wounds and was taken to an east London hospital. Police are waiting for him to recover sufficiently so they can start questioning him.
The three victims were the wife and daughters of BBC racing commentator John Hunt who is understood to have been away at a race meeting when the tragedy unfolded.
His colleagues have expressed their “sympathy, love and support” for him after he was informed of their deaths.
Meanwhile, a friend of Louise has claimed Clifford would attempt to “control” her and had tried to stop her wearing make-up.
The friend told MailOnline: “Kyle was controlling and used to ridicule Louise. In public he made himself out to be a nice guy, but in private he was anything but.
“There hadn’t been any previous incidents of violence towards Louise — nothing that we knew about anyway — but he imposed himself on her.
“It was certain things, like Louise used to like wearing make-up but then she stopped wearing make-up — and that was down to Kyle.”
She added: “There were red flags. And when Louise split with Kyle
I think the family were very relieved.
‘What happened is incomprehensible, it’s awful. They were such an incredibly lovely, friendly family.”
He wrote: “RIP the love of my life, I will never forget you, stolen from me too soon. The brightest light in my life. My brave queen for life. Until we meet again... I love you Hansy.”
Det Supt Rob Hall from the Hertfordshire Major Crimes unit said: “This was an unprecedented attack and we are determined to understand the full circumstances of what happened that evening.”
