How my murdered daughter saved my life: Emotional BBC star John Hunt breaks down as he relives day of crossbow horror at his home
A tearful John Hunt has described his ‘pride’ at the love his daughter Louise had shown Kyle Clifford before he murdered her, her mother Carol and sister Hannah – and how his own life was saved that fateful day.
The BBC horse racing commentator has given his first interview since their deaths alongside his surviving daughter Amy, describing the legacy of love the three women he adored had left behind.
Mr Hunt lives still in the family home where they died in Hertfordshire and told Victoria Derbyshire he speaks to them throughout the day – from the moment he wakes up until he goes to sleep.
‘Sometimes I say out loud to Hannah and Louise, “girls, sorry I can’t be with you, I’m with your mum at the moment”,’ he said.
The broadcaster also told how Hannah had saved his life by sending a text to her boyfriend as she died, which alerted the police. John believes Clifford intended to murder him too when he returned from London.
‘I get to live. Hannah gave me that, and I’ve got to treat it as a gift from her’, he said.
‘Police officers of 30 years’ experience had their breath taken away by how brave she was, how she was able to think so clearly in that moment, to know what she needed to do,’ her father said.
Asked if Hannah’s actions saved his life, John adds: ‘That’s what I believe. I have said many, many times, her doing that has given me life. And I’ve used that to re-ground myself on a daily basis.’
Amy and John said there was no sign that Clifford was abusive to Louise before he committed three murders with a knife and a crossbow.
‘Did we have any indication that this man was capable of stabbing my mother, of tying Louise up, of raping Louise, of shooting Louise and shooting Hannah? Absolutely not,’ Amy said.
She added: ‘I know it sounds crass, but we often say we wish we’d had some hint that he was capable of this.’
Clifford refused to attend his sentencing, where he was given three whole life orders. The court also heard devastating victim impact statements written by John and Amy.
‘It’s consistently a system that prioritises the perpetrator,’ Amy said.
Her father then broke down as he said that Louise had dealt with the break-up with Clifford ‘perfectly’ – and read out the transcript of a TikTok video she had shared at the time called: ‘Don’t you feel embarrassed for sticking around that long?’
Pausing in places with tears in his eyes he went on: ‘Embarrassed? My heart is the best part about me. And who I am as a person. I will never be embarrassed for loving someone with everything in me because that is how I would want someone to love me. Yes it didn’t work out but I don’t regret loving him and how hard I loved.
An emotional John Hunt in his first interview since his wife and two daughters were murdered
An emotional Mr Hunt said his daughter Hannah had saved his life with a final text that would alert police to the murders and who was responsible. John believes Clifford would have killed him too
Kyle Clifford (pictured) raped and murdered his ex-girlfriend Louise, 25, and killed her mother, Carol, 61, and sister Hannah, 28
Hunt’s wife Carol, as well as his daughter Louise and Hannah, were murdered by Kyle Clifford
Louise Hunt (pictured), sister of Hannah Hunt and daughter of Carol and John Hunt, was killed
Hannah Hunt was killed alongside her mother and sister in the crossbow attack in Bushey. She sent a text as she died, which alerted the police and saved her father
‘I’m proud of myself for realising that love is always worth giving when when it may not be received. I truly think they needed that love a lot more than I did at that time and maybe this will be he reason they never treat a person like that.
‘So no I don’t feel embarrassed about loving someone deeply and wholeheartedly’.
Speaking from the heart, Mr Hunt choked up again and said: ‘And as you can tell from my reaction now. They weren’t Louise’s words but they could well have been. And I’m so proud of her for living like that and loving like that’.
Clifford gained access to the family home by deceiving Mrs Hunt into thinking he was returning some of Louise’s things, then stabbed her to death in a brutal knife attack.
After killing Mrs Hunt, the defendant waited for an hour for Louise to enter the house, then restrained, raped and murdered her with a crossbow.
He then fatally shot Hannah Hunt with the weapon when she returned to the property after work.
Amy said there was nothing in Clifford’s behaviour leading up to the incident that suggested he was capable of committing such crimes, but it had become clear by the end of his relationship with Louise that he was ‘not that nice of a person’.
Mr Hunt said: ‘He never once hit her. He was in the house an awful lot in that 18 months – I never heard raised voices once.’
John said that he had never heard Clifford raise his voice to his daughter and that they were a normal couple, spending lots of time in the family home.
It was only after the murders there were signs of ‘gentle manipulation’ by Clifford in texts to Louise, who was belittled at times. But there was no sign of what was to come.
Mr Hunt returned to work with the BBC as a racing commentator – a job he was encouraged to pursue by his wife when he was a police officer.
John says that Carol, Louise and Hannah are still a constant presence in his and Amy’s lives.
He chats to them every day.
‘From the moment I wake up, I say good morning to each of them. As I close my eyes at night, I chat to them as well. They’re very close to me all the time’, he said.
John and Amy recalled one Friday night last May, two months before the murders, when the three sisters had gone out for sushi together.
‘We were talking about how lucky we’d been as a family, to have had the parents we’ve had and the life we’ve had,’ Amy said.
John said Hannah came home from the dinner and she was ‘typically effusive’.
‘She came barnstorming through the door, and Carol said something like, ‘you had a lovely time?’ And she said, ‘do you know what, mum? We talked about how lucky we have been. We have been so lucky. We’ve not had a minute of concern or worry through the lives you’ve given us’,’ he said.
‘It’s a beautiful thing to recall. It was a beautiful thing to hear at the same time.’
Amy said that when Clifford killed her family and went on the run: ‘My mum, Hannah and Louise became a statistic. They became victims of Kyle Clifford’.
She added: ‘I want to breathe life back into my mum, Hannah and Louise as fully-rounded people’.
But above all, every day he remembers Hannah’s final act, and how it saved his life. ‘I get to live,’ he says. ‘Hannah gave me that, and I’ve got to treat it as a gift from her.’
He said: ‘When it happened I thought, ‘How on earth am I ever going to be able to care about anything ever again?’
‘It’s fine to sit with that thought in the wreckage of what was our personal disaster.
‘But you come to realise that, with a little bit of work, you can find some light again’.
At Clifford’s sentencing, many cried as Mr Hunt paid tribute to each member of his slaughtered family in an emotional victim impact statement.
The racing commentator told how he could hear the ‘screams of hell’ waiting for Clifford after losing his wife and two of three daughters to the killer in July.
People sobbed as he described how ‘proud’ he was of ‘all my girls’ in the wake of their brutal murders – while Clifford refused to leave his cell.
Amy and John revealed how they heard details about the case in court and in newspapers that they had not been told.
There were also problems with logistics, including going to hearings and Clifford being absent due to a lack of transport to take him from jail.
The Crown Prosecution Service has said it has apologised to John and Amy and has ‘the utmost admiration for the Hunt family, who had the strength and courage to attend court every day and hear first-hand the devastating truth of what happened to Carol, Louise and Hannah.
‘At the request of the judge during the first hearing of Kyle Clifford, we provided initial details of the prosecution’s case. We apologised to the Hunt family for the level of detail outlined at that stage and continued to meet with them throughout the criminal justice process’.
Court artist sketch of BBC racing commentator Mr Hunt giving his victim impact statement in March, when Clifford was sentenced
A court sketch of Amy Hunt, John’s surviving daughter, reading her powerful victim impact statement
In January MailOnline revealed how he had returned to work just 60 days after the deaths of Carol, 61, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, as a way for him to try to deal with the unimaginable grief of losing them so suddenly and painfully, a friend said.
The BBC horse racing commentator initially moved away from the family home where Kyle Clifford stabbed Mr Hunt’s wife and fatally shot two of his three daughters with a crossbow. His third child Amy was not caught up in the attack.
Clifford, who had been dumped by Louise Hunt, will never be released from prison having wreaked ‘devastation on an unimaginable scale’ for Mr Hunt and his surviving child Amy in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on July 9 last year.
Just 60 days later John had bravely returned to work at the Brighton races ‘on a quiet day’ in September.
A colleague told MailOnline: ‘Perhaps returning to work so soon was his way of dealing with the trauma.
‘All of us in racing were heartbroken. He is a fine broadcaster but the thing that struck us was how devoted he was as a family man. He talked of them all a great deal’.
Another friend said that John has clearly found some comfort in working again – but once a fixture in the press room and keen to chat about his family and beloved West Ham, he now keeps himself more to himself.
‘I saw him walking across the course alone recently. I fully understand why’, a colleague said.
John Hunt (left) is pictured with his family Carol (right), Hannah (second left) and Louise (second right)
Louise (left), Hannah (centre) and Carol (right) were murdered in their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, last July
Mr Hunt shared a birthday message for his surviving daughter in January. He praised Amy’s beauty and strength after a harrowing year where their family was taken from them.
‘It’s what a proud father would say. And that’s John’, the friend said.
‘John is the very best of men. The esteem in which he is held by his colleagues could not be higher’, he went on.
‘John is the bravest man I know. And an incredible talent, with no ego. When I saw him he would always ask about my children and my family’, the friend said.
‘And it was the same with his girls – they were everything to him. He always talked about them.
‘He has huge compassion. And always lived for his family. He was so proud.
‘They were a family surrounded by good people – but it shows how one bad seed can get in and ruin everything’.
Since the murders race courses and officials all over the country have provided a crutch for him and tried to make him comfortable in any way they can.
Colleagues described hearing the news that his wife and children had died last summer.
‘There was a minute’s silence for his family at Newmarket and it was the most sombre and grave atmosphere because of the love for him. The jockeys were also bereft. They all knew him and trusted him’, one said.
‘He returned on one quiet day in September at Brighton and he chose that he because he knew he had to get back to work and stay at home with his thoughts. He came in into a quiet meeting and did his work.
‘John has no ego. When you are listening to John call a race it feels like a friend is talking to you.
‘He creates drama and makes it easy to understand. He’s the master of his craft.
‘He’s a massive West Ham fan and loves talking football but he’s got a job to do and wants to call a race with clarity. That is his focus’.
After the brutal killings the grieving widower urged people to ‘make the most of every day’ as his friend and fellow commentator Mark Chapman opened up about Mr Hunt having the ‘family unit he absolutely adored’ ripped apart.
Through the searing emotional pain, the loving father’s thoughts turned to Amy and his ‘biggest desire’ to make her life ‘a little less stressful’.
Watch Standing Strong: The John and Amy Hunt Interview tonight at 9pm on BBC One and on BBC iPlayer.
