A 26-year-old man who had pleaded guilty to the murder of three women at their family home just north of London was found guilty on Thursday of raping one of them, his ex-partner, during the attack.
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After around 45 minutes of deliberations, the jury at Cambridge Crown Court convicted Kyle Clifford of raping his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt during the attack on the family that involved a crossbow and a 25cm (10-inch) knife.
Clifford had pleaded guilty in January of murdering Louise and her 28-year-old sister Hannah Hunt with a crossbow and their mother, Carol Hunt, 61, with a knife on July 9, 2024. The three women were the wife and two of the daughters of BBC horse racing commentator John Hunt.
Clifford is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.
Clifford, who did not appear in court after refusing to leave his cell at Belmarsh Prison in southeast London, had denied raping Louise in January, when he admitted to three counts of murder, one of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of offensive weapons.
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Detective Chief Inspector Nick Gardner of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said Clifford’s failure to attend his trial was an “absolute act of cowardice”.