In the throes of unimaginable grief and confusion, John Hunt forced himself to read sickening messages sent from the man who murdered his wife and two daughters – and now he’s sharing the harsh reality of those haunting days for the first time. Last July, Kyle Clifford stabbed Carol Hunt, 61, to death, raped his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt , 25, then used a crossbow to murder both her and her sister Hannah, 28, at their family home in Bushey. Just weeks before the horror unfolded, Louise had ended the relationship. After butchering the family, the ex-soldier was found the following day, cowering from the cops in a cemetery near his home in Enfield, North London. Now, BBC commentator John Hunt has bravely spoken out for the first time alongside his only surviving daughter Amy, after their lives were destroyed by the heinous murders. While both John and Amy say they had their “misgivings” about Clifford, but there was nothing to suggest at the time that his relationship with Louise was abusive – a “painful” misconception the family had to grapple with in inaccurate reports after the murders. The father and daughter say they never heard the couple raise their voices at each other – and Clifford never physically assaulted Louise while they were in a relationship. One of the most difficult moments in the immediate aftermath, John says, was having to look through Clifford and Louise’s text messages to each other after her death, where he discovered worrying hints about what was to come. Speaking to the BBC , the brave dad said looking at the messages was “very difficult to do” as they were “personal to Louise” – but in doing so, he managed to piece together Clifford’s worrying behaviour leading up to the attacks. The texts John discovered revealed signs of “gentle manipulation” from spring 2024. Clifford had begun “belittling” his daughter. One particular “turning point” came when Louise and Clifford went away for a friend’s wedding that year. The night before the event, Louise had trouble using the oven in their accomodation. At the wedding, when other guests asked her what she did for a living, Clifford humiliated her, cruelling joking that “one thing she doesn’t do is know how to work an oven properly”. Although the family had their concerns at the time about Clifford’s character, there was no indication to them that he was capable of such a heinous act of depravity. “At the point of Louise ending [the relationship], there was absolutely evidence that he had turned out not to be a nice person,” Amy told the BBC. “But I want to put it very bluntly now. 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.” In their heartbreaking interview, John told the broadcaster that his wife and two daughters remain a constant presence in his life. Their love and legacy is the only thing that carries him and Amy through life without them. “From the moment I wake up, I say good morning to each of them,” John said. “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’. As I close my eyes at night, I chat to them as well. They’re very close to me all the time.” John reduced a packed courtroom to tears when he read through his powerful 1900-word impact statement, moments before Clifford was sent down for life. Addressing the murder of his wife, Carol, he said: “Carol still displayed compassion right up until the moment she answered the door to you on July 9. “Do you remember her kindness, Kyle? How she urged you to get some relationship help and guidance for fear that you would never be able to sustain a lasting relationship? You calmly accepted that advice on the doorstep and then literally seconds later, savagely stabbed her eight times and ended her life. “When I challenged myself about how you were able to deceive us all, I simply say that you are a psychopath who, for the duration of your time together with Louise, was able to disguise yourself as an ordinary human being.”