UK: Triple crossbow murder suspect charged

The suspect in the crossbow murder of the wife and two daughters of a BBC radio journalist in north London this summer has been charged, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

After a day on the run, Kyle Clifford, 26, was found injured and in a serious condition in a cemetery in Enfield, about twenty kilometers from Bushey, the town where the three victims lived and where they were killed.

They were aged 25, 28 and 61 and this triple murder has caused strong emotion in the United Kingdom. Kyle Clifford was the former boyfriend of one of the two young women, according to British media, but the police had specified that they had never been contacted in the past for an incident involving Kyle Clifford or the victims. On July 9, the three women – wife and daughters of the presenter BBC John Hunt – were found “very seriously injured” and died shortly after emergency services arrived, police said at the time.

Kyle Clifford has been charged with the three murders as well as possession of an offensive weapon and false imprisonment, the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement on Tuesday. He is due to appear later this morning at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.

Hertfordshire Police said they had “not been able to interview Kyle Clifford beforehand as he was being treated for his injuries in hospital.” Crossbow ownership does not require a specific licence in the UK, but it is illegal to carry one in public without a valid reason.

After the triple murder, a Home Office spokesman said work had been launched earlier this year to determine whether “tighter controls” should be introduced. In March, a 47-year-old man was arrested after two people were injured in separate crossbow attacks in London’s Shoreditch district.

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