John Hunt says he is developing ‘confidence that he can cope’ after murder of wife and daughters
BBC sports commentator John Hunt said he had grown “confidence that I could cope” following the brutal murders of his wife and two daughters.
Mr Hunt’s wife Carol was murdered in July 2024, along with her daughters Louise and Hannah, by Louise’s former partner Kyle Clifford.
A court heard Clifford, 26, was “enraged” when Louise ended their relationship and committed the murders “in a violent, sexual act of spite”.
Mr Hunt spoke with Telegram He tells the newspaper how he manages his pain: “He writes his own rules, it’s very strange. You might wake up at half past seven one morning and think, ‘I feel quite cheerful today.’ Then, for no reason at all, you get on your knees again at half past eight.”
Despite the waves of shock and grief that came over him, Mr Hunt said: “You know that the next time it hits, the intensity won’t be quite the same in an hour. You develop a confidence that you can cope even if nothing changes.”
He explained that in the time since the horrific acts committed against his loved ones, he had become increasingly immersed in music and reading.
Mr Hunt said one line Man’s Search for Meaning Written by Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who was sent to Nazi concentration camps with his family, this book resonated with Carol as she thought about how to live life without Hannah and Louise.
In the book, Mr. Frankl argues: “There is a space between stimulus and response. In this space we have the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”
Mr Hunt told Telegram: “I had to work hard to deal with it, but I realized: ‘I have options here.’ Frankl’s words are always with me,” adding: “Even though Kyle Clifford took almost everything from me, he had no control over my future or how I chose to live.”
Mr Hunt’s surviving daughter Amy was named this weekend Independent‘s impact list for International Women’s Day. She has spoken out boldly about women’s safety and domestic violence and, with her father, founded the Hunt Family Fund, which has raised over £250,000 for charities across the country tackling violence against women.
Clifford, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for horrific crimes, gained access to the family home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, after luring and stabbing Carol, 61, by waiting for Louise, 25, to enter the property.
Clifford restrained Louise, raped her and shot her with a crossbow, then killed her 28-year-old sister Hannah when she returned from work.
Mr Hunt, who has returned to his job covering horse racing and other sports for the BBC, later explained: “Even though my life has been completely turned upside down, I’m still able to live my own version of it.”
He believes that it was only thanks to Hannah’s quick thinking that he was saved from becoming the fourth victim of Clifford’s attack; Just before Hannah was killed, she managed to call her boyfriend and ask him to call the police.
