Kyle Clifford, 26, of Enfield, north London, is found guilty of raping Louise Hunt, 25, just before he killed her in July last year
He had already admitted shooting her and her sister Hannah Hunt, 28, with a crossbow and fatally stabbing their mother, 61-year-old Carol Hunt, at the family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire
Relatives and friends of the Hunt family clapped as the verdict came in, our reporter in court writes
Louise ended her relationship with Clifford more than two weeks before the murders, Cambridge Crown Court heard
Clifford's attacks were "fuelled" by the "violent misogyny promoted" by social media influencer Andrew Tate, prosecutors said
Clifford was not in court and is paralysed from the chest down after shooting himself with the crossbow after the attack
The three women were the wife and daughters of BBC racing commentator John Hunt
Clifford is due to be sentenced for the murders and rape on Tuesday, 11 March
After being found guilty of rape by a jury on Thursday, Kyle Clifford will be sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court next Tuesday.
The jury took less than an hour to deliver its unanimous verdict.
The 26-year-old from Enfield will be sentenced for the three murders, the rape, false imprisonment and possession of offensive weapons.
Our live coverage of the day of the rape verdict is ending.
Image source, SuppliedJohn Hunt, the father and husband of Louise, Hannah and Carol, "adored" his family, his friend Matt Chapman said in the immediate aftermath of the murders.Mr Hunt, a BBC racing commentator, has previously urged people to "make the most of every day" after losing three of his family in the crossbow and knife attack.He also said that "every message of support "feels like a hug".
"Family means more to some than others and for John, his family unit was something he absolutely adored," Mr Chapman said.
During the same police interview, Clifford was questioned about a second note on his phone addressed "to myself", where he said: "I don't want to live my life without her".
Clifford added: "I don't want to experience new things.
"Nothing I can think of can make me happy.
"I know I could have gone to therapy, found faith and become a new better person but I just simply don't want to.
"I am so sorry I didn't wait to move on and find my future wife, have the children I always wanted."
The officer told Clifford the note was "very self-centred note and doesn't take into account anyone else".
During a police interview carried out on 16 September, officers asked Kyle Clifford about notes he had made on his phone.
One, addressed to different family members, begins: "Please don't think of this as me throwing my life away.
"I know you will all have so many questions and wish you could have done something different to prevent this however none of you have failed and there is simply nothing any of you could have done."
The officers asked him if he had already planned the three murders when he wrote that note, and Clifford whispered "no comment".
Hertfordshire Police said that prior to his police interview, when he was still recovering and being treated for his crossbow injuries, Clifford had said he was "sorry" and "what I have done is atrocious".
Image source, Hertfordshire PoliceKyle Clifford spent 10 weeks in hospital with a round-the-clock police guard before he could be interviewed about the attacks on 9 July.
Police video showed him in a wheelchair refusing to engage and answering “no comment” to questions on 16 September.
He shows no emotion when asked about the killings but appears to choke back tears after he is asked about a note on his phone, written about himself.
Image source, ContributedKyle Clifford served in the Army for about two years before leaving in 2022
Kyle Clifford's behaviour in the days following his break-up with Louise Hunt appears to have escalated at an unprecedented rate", according to Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner, senior investigating officer in the case.
Clifford then "plotted a meticulously planned attack on Louise and members of her family", the officer said.
The 26-year-old ex-soldier had shown a "complete inability and unwillingness... to actually deal with [the break-up] appropriately", he added.
Read more: The arrogant ex-soldier who turned into a triple killer
13:07: Clifford leaves his home in Enfield armed with a knife and a crossbow and searches the internet to see if BBC racing commentator John Hunt will be at a meeting that afternoon.
14:32: Clifford is let into the family home after telling Carol Hunt he wants to return some of her daughter Louise’s belongings.
He stabs Mrs Hunt to death.
15:10: Clifford returns to his car to retrieve the crossbow hidden under a white cloth or blanket.
He waits inside the house for Louise, who had been working at the dog grooming business she ran from the family’s back garden.
16:13-18:50: He restrains, rapes and then murders her with a crossbow.
During this time, Clifford used Louise's phone to message her father to find out when he would be home from work. John Hunt replied: "Late, I'm afraid. Everything OK, sweetness?"
18:52: Louise's older sister Hannah Hunt returns to the family home after work and is also shot with the crossbow. She manages to message her partner asking them to call the police.
18:55: Clifford walks away from the property carrying the black rucksack, with the crossbow hidden under a sheet.
18:57: Hannah Hunt is recorded by home security systems screaming "Oh my God, no" as she realises her sister and mother have been attacked.
18:58: Hannah Hunt uses Carol Hunt's phone to dial 999 and identifies Clifford as the attacker to the call handler.
19:10: Emergency services arrive at the house. Carol and Louise Hunt are found dead and unsuccessful resuscitation attempts are made on Hannah.
A manhunt ensues.
10 July: Clifford is found injured at Lavender Hill Cemetery, in Enfield, in north London, after shooting himself in the chest with the crossbow.
He is taken to hospital with serious injuries and later charged with the murders.
Image source, Met PoliceKyle Clifford's older brother was jailed in 2018 for the "senseless and barbaric killing" a man on a scooter in Enfield, north London.
Bradley Clifford, then aged 24, gave chase and ploughed into the scooter in his Ford Mustang after the rider Sobhan Khan,18, and his pillion passenger hit his car with a bottle and damaged it.
Mr Khan was sent flying into the air and died as a result of his injuries, while the other man was hurt, but survived.
Clifford was jailed for 23 years after being found guilty of murder and attempted GBH with intent.
Image source, Hertfordshire PoliceDet Ch Insp Nick Gardner said the decision to prosecute on the rape charge had been the correct one, even though Clifford had admitted three murders.
"Absolutely right," he said. "I think it shows the full gravity of his offending and the character that he is."
He agreed with a suggestion that Louise's last few hours of life must have been "horrific".
Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner, the senior investigating officer in the case, has been speaking about Clifford's motives.
"I don't think this is the case of a spurned lover in any way," he said.
"He [Clifford] simply couldn't deal with what he perceived to be a dent to his pride.
"He then sought to control the situation, in terms of weapons purchases, the cold, calculating way in which he lay in wait in the house for her [Louise]."
26 June 2024: Louise Hunt tells Clifford their relationship is over
In a message read out in court during Clifford’s trial, she says: "I'm sorry Kyle but I feel I can't continue with what we have, I feel like it has been broken and I can't ignore how I've been feeling.”
She wishes him well and asks him to “take care of yourself always please”.
30 June: Clifford makes internet searches in relation to crossbows and visits websites where they could be purchased.
3 July: Clifford purchases a crossbow and a pack of six crossbow bolts.
4 July: Clifford buys two petrol cans from Halfords and two rolls of duct tape from B&Q.
Senior investigator Det Ch Insp Gardner echoed the judge's praise for the behaviour of relatives during the trial.
He said he did not know why Clifford had admitted murder, and other charges, but not rape.
"I don't know. The evidence was overwhelming. He was arguing against commonly accepted science."
Mr Gardner added: "He knew the game was up. I have no idea why he failed to plead.
"The jury saw through his lies."
Hannah was heard on audio at the Hunt family home saying "Kyle I swear to God" after returning home and appearing to find Clifford in the house.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Hannah messaged her partner, Alex Klein, telling him: "Call police... immediately. To mine. Now.
"Kyle here. Police now. He's tying us up."
Image source, PA MediaThe court heard that customers of Louise's dog grooming business, based in a pod in the Hunt family's garden, were using the gate at the side of the house "not realising what was happening" when Carol was murdered.
The jury panel was told a faint scream could be heard from the address shortly after Louise entered the house, and she was later found to have been restrained with tape at the wrist and ankles.
Det Ch Insp Nick Gardner said, after the trial, that Clifford's refusal to attend the trial, either in person or via an online link, was "cowardice".
Clifford was tried in his absence after refusing to leave his cell at HMP Belmarsh.
"[It] was an absolute act of cowardice by Clifford," said Det Ch Insp Gardner.
"Every reasonable adjustment was made by the judge. The trial was moved here for his (Clifford's) reasonable accessibility needs."
Image source, ReutersThe Crown Prosecution Service said the "weight of evidence against Clifford" gave him little option but to admit murdering the three women.
Prosecutors worked closely with Hertfordshire Police to build a case "which painted a clear picture of a sinister and premediated attack against the Hunt family".
Digital evidence showed Clifford making online orders for a knife, crossbow and duct tape.
He was also captured on CCTV arriving near the Hunt family home in his car on the afternoon of the murders.
Image source, Hertfordshire Police
Lucy Manning
Special correspondent, Cambridge Crown Court
Clifford bought the crossbow online. Questions will be raised about their easy purchase but this is also about those who choose to use weapons to attack and murder women.
What is sadly unsurprising, but is still devastating, is yet again innocent women are the victims of male violence in their own homes, by someone they knew.
Clifford was an ex-boyfriend whose response to rejection was to rape and murder.
Prosecutor Helen Morgan KC said that in the days leading up to the attacks, Clifford had searched for how to purchase a crossbow and had accessed pornography, including for a video of former HMP Wandsworth prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu, who admitted having sex with a prisoner last year.
The prosecutor said the defendant's violent intentions were shown "through the use of weapons and his sexual preoccupations".
The court heard Clifford's killing spree took place over several hours in three separate attacks.
He firstly stabbed Carol to death while her daughter Louise was working in a garden office, where she ran a dog grooming business.
After Louise came inside, he restrained, raped and then murdered her with a crossbow, jurors heard.
Prosecutors said he then killed Hannah with the crossbow when she came home after work.
Clifford was caught on CCTV at a garden centre on the day of the murders
Clifford's sister had messaged Clifford on the day of the attacks, asking him "what are you playing at?" when she realised he had taken the crossbow out with him.
He told her he was doing nothing "illegal" and he was shooting it in his friend's back garden, the jurors were told.
Following the murders, he became the subject of a manhunt for a number of hours before he was found injured in Lavender Hill Cemetery, in Enfield, north London, after shooting himself in the chest with the crossbow.
The jury was told he was now paralysed from the chest downwards.
Image source, Hertfordshire Police