BBC racing commentator John Hunt, whose spouse and two of his daughters have been murdered final July, describes in an emotional first interview the legacy of affection they left behind.

It was this, John and his daughter Amy inform the BBC, that had helped maintain them by their trauma and grief.

Carol, Louise and Hannah remained such a continuing presence of their lives that he nonetheless talks to them each day, nearly a yr on from their deaths, John says.

“From the second I get up, I say good morning to every of them,” he says.

“Generally I say out loud to Hannah and Louise, ‘ladies, sorry I can not be with you, I am along with your mum in the meanwhile’. As I shut my eyes at evening, I chat to them as properly. They’re very near me on a regular basis.”

John and Amy say they took the choice to speak publicly now as a result of they didn’t need their family members to be outlined by their deaths. In addition they really feel a lot of the preliminary reporting after the murders was inaccurate and it added to their ache.

They’ve additionally shared beforehand unseen household pictures with the BBC.

Kyle Clifford fatally stabbed 61-year-old Carol, raped his former companion, Louise, 25, then used a crossbow to shoot each her and her sister Hannah, 28 – all at their household dwelling in Bushey, Hertfordshire, in July final yr.

Amy says the minute Clifford left their dwelling on the day of the incident, “my mum, Hannah and Louise grew to become a statistic. They grew to become victims of Kyle Clifford.”

“I wish to breathe life again into my mum, Hannah and Louise as fully-rounded individuals.”

Amy and John inform the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire in addition they strongly reject studies there have been clear indicators of abuse by Clifford throughout his relationship with Louise.

“Did we’ve any indication that this man was able to stabbing my mom, of tying Louise up, of raping Louise, of capturing Louise and capturing Hannah? Completely not,” says Amy.

The Hunt household have at all times been extraordinarily shut.

Within the early years of their marriage, Carol inspired John – then a police officer – to pursue his dream of turning into a racing commentator.

That never-ending perception was inherited by their three daughters – Amy, the eldest, their center daughter Hannah, and Louise, “the newborn”. They talked on a regular basis and shared all the pieces with one another.

John, Carol, Hannah and Louise lived collectively of their dwelling in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Louise ran a dog-grooming enterprise from a pod within the backyard and Hannah labored in aesthetics and wonder.

Their life, John says, was “one among full happiness – awash with it, actually”.

They keep in mind one Friday evening final Could, two months earlier than the murders, when the three sisters had gone out for sushi collectively.

“We have been speaking about how fortunate we might been as a household, to have had the dad and mom we have had and the life we have had,” Amy says.

John agrees, and provides that when Hannah got here dwelling from the dinner, she was “sometimes effusive”.

“She got here barnstorming by the door, and Carol mentioned one thing like, ‘you had a stunning time?’ And he or she mentioned, ‘have you learnt what, mum? We talked about how fortunate we’ve been. We’ve got been so fortunate. We have not had a minute of concern or fear by the lives you have given us’,” he says.

“It is a phenomenal factor to recall. It was a phenomenal factor to listen to on the similar time.”

Whereas issues have been idyllic with the household, Louise and Clifford’s relationship had began to bitter. On the finish of June, Louise broke up with him.

Lower than two weeks later, on 9 July, Clifford turned up on the household’s dwelling on the pretext of returning a few of Louise’s issues.

Doorbell footage captured the second Carol opened the door to Clifford, and greeted him with pleasant recommendation.

“Possibly… possibly assume within the subsequent relationship,” she informed him, “the best way you might be, possibly attempt to change. In the event you keep on like this you may find yourself by yourself.” Clifford agreed, seemingly cordial, and informed her he had began remedy.

Carol turned to enter the home, and Clifford adopted her inside.

He then stabbed her a number of occasions, earlier than ready in the home for Louise to return again inside from her canine grooming pod. When she did, he restrained, raped, and killed her with a crossbow. When Hannah returned later, he shot her with the crossbow too.

In her dying moments, Hannah messaged her boyfriend, Alex, and managed to name 999. She was in a position to inform them what had occurred and, crucially, who was accountable. John was in central London on the time. He believes Clifford supposed to kill him too.

“Law enforcement officials of 30 years’ expertise had their breath taken away by how courageous she was, how she was in a position to assume so clearly in that second, to know what she wanted to do,” John says.

Requested if Hannah’s actions saved his life, John provides: “That is what I imagine.

“I mentioned it in court docket and I mentioned many, many occasions, her doing that has given me life. And I’ve used that to re-ground myself each day.”

Because the information of the murders unfold, the narrative spun uncontrolled.

John says “from day one” their household – and particularly, Louise – was “utterly misrepresented within the media and on social media”, together with false recommendations Louise was in a controlling and coercive relationship with Kyle Clifford.

He and Amy recall misinformation on information websites, together with the declare that John had been the one to find his spouse and daughters’ our bodies of their dwelling.

In addition they keep in mind pictures being lifted from their family members’ social media pages by sections of the media with out consent, one thing John describes as “grave-robbing”.

Amy remembers one newspaper headline studying, “Crossbow maniac was jilted”, a framing she describes as “victim-blaming”.

However most painful, they are saying, have been claims within the press that there have been clear indicators of abuse and misogyny in Clifford’s relationship with Louise.

John and Amy say the household had misgivings about Clifford – there have been issues about him they did not very hot to. He was immature and, at occasions, thoughtless. They are saying he could not cope with battle, and was dangerous at taking criticism. The household, together with Louise, would speak to one another about Clifford’s lack of consideration.

However their relationship additionally appeared unremarkable, they are saying. The 2 of them would giggle and cuddle in the home, watch movies collectively, cook dinner collectively, go on holidays to Europe and take weekend journeys to the seaside.

They appeared joyful, for a yr at the least – and even when issues began to deteriorate in 2024, for these on the skin, the change was refined.

A turning level got here when the couple went away for a good friend’s marriage ceremony. The evening earlier than the ceremony, Louise struggled to make use of the oven of their lodging. The subsequent day, when different marriage ceremony visitors requested Louise what she did for a dwelling, Clifford would interject with the barb that “one factor she would not do is know tips on how to work an oven correctly”.

Clifford began to belittle her. When wanting by the couple’s textual content messages after Louise’s loss of life – one thing John says he discovered “very troublesome to do” because the messages have been private to Louise – they seen indicators, from spring 2024, of “mild manipulation”.

However did they discover something on the time that recommended the connection was abusive?

No, John says. Clifford by no means bodily assaulted Louise once they have been collectively. The household additionally by no means heard them elevate their voices at one another.

“On the level of Louise ending [the relationship], there was completely proof that he had turned out to not be a pleasant individual,” Amy says.

“However I wish to put it very bluntly now. Did we’ve any indication that this man was able to stabbing my mom, of tying Louise up, of raping Louise, of capturing Louise and capturing Hannah? Completely not.

“He is typically been known as ‘crossbow killer’ and ‘crossbow maniac’ – however that takes away from the very actual concern we all know to be true. He was only a individual, only a man… who went to the gymnasium, had a household, had a relationship, watched TV.

“I do know it sounds crass, however we regularly say we want we might had some trace that he was able to this.”

Within the months that adopted the murders, John and Amy needed to navigate a posh legal justice system.

John makes a degree of highlighting the “unbelievable individuals” who supported them – the law enforcement officials, their household liaison officers, their barrister, and the “compassionate” decide who oversaw the rape trial and sentenced Clifford. They have been, they are saying, “very fortunate to have met these individuals in these horrible circumstances”.

However, he provides, “every of them is working in a system that’s clearly not match for goal”.

On the day Clifford appeared at magistrates’ court docket after being charged, John and Amy’s household liaison officers weren’t in a position to attend the listening to with them as they have been at one other homicide in Luton.

“It simply so occurred that that morning within the magistrates’ court docket, they revealed features of the murders that we had not heard of in any respect, from anyone,” John says. “That was an terrible day.”

Amy then discovered the small print of her sister Hannah’s remaining phrases on the telephone to 999, from a newspaper headline.

After they spoke to the CPS about their issues, they got a criticism kind and informed to return it inside 28 working days – “as if we might had our bike stolen”.

On one other day, when Clifford was resulting from enter his pleas, Amy says they have been informed the listening to wanted to be postponed as a result of the jail transport “did not flip as much as take him to court docket”.

The proceedings have been lengthy and torturous for John and Amy. Clifford initially denied the fees in opposition to him, earlier than pleading responsible to all the pieces besides the cost of rape. This meant the case needed to go to trial. He was convicted in March.

Clifford refused to attend his sentencing later that month, that means he didn’t hear the decide’s damning feedback about him, or the devastating testimonies written by John and Amy.

“It is persistently a system that prioritises the perpetrator,” Amy says. “That is a traumatising factor for therefore many individuals.”

The Crown Prosecution Service says it has apologised, and it has “the utmost admiration for the Hunt household, who had the energy and braveness to attend court docket each day and listen to first-hand the devastating fact of what occurred to Carol, Louise and Hannah.

“On the request of the decide throughout the first listening to of Kyle Clifford, we supplied preliminary particulars of the prosecution’s case. We apologised to the Hunt household for the extent of element outlined at that stage and continued to satisfy with them all through the legal justice course of.”

Within the months because the sentencing, John and Amy say they have been attempting to give attention to dwelling once more.

“When it occurred I believed, ‘how on earth am I ever going to have the ability to care about something ever once more’?” John says.

“It is fantastic to take a seat with that thought within the wreckage of what was our private catastrophe. However you come to understand that, with a little bit bit of labor, you could find some mild once more.”

He says they’ve discovered consolation in good counsellors and assist teams, mindfulness workouts, and the love and assist they’ve for one another.

However above all, each day he remembers Hannah’s remaining act, and the way it saved his life. “I get to reside,” he says. “Hannah gave me that, and I’ve received to deal with it as a present from her.”

You possibly can watch the complete interview Standing Sturdy: The John and Amy Hunt interview with Victoria Derbyshire at 21:00 BST on BBC1 and the iPlayer

In the event you’ve been affected by a few of the points raised on this story particulars of assist can be found at BBC Motion Line.