Crossbow killer Kyle Clifford's grim life in jail 'paralysed with damaged voice'

Kyle Clifford, who has pleaded guilty to the brutal murders of Carol, Hannah and Louise Hunt, is now a wheelchair user after seriously injuring himself when police hunted him down

Kyle Clifford has admitted murdering three women today in a sickening crossbow attack that horrified the nation.

Clifford, 26, pleaded guilty to killing the family of BBC racing commentator John Hunt - Carol Hunt and her daughters Louise and Hannah - in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on July 9 last year. He also admitted the false imprisonment of Louise. During the hearing at Cambridge Crown Court, Clifford, from Enfield, north London, admitted possession of a 10-inch butcher's knife and possession of a crossbow.

Carol, 61, died from stab wounds to her chest and abdomen, while Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, died from crossbow bolt injuries. Hannah had put up a desperate last fight to escape their killer, texting a friend saying she had been tied up and begging them to call the police.

Cops were forced to wait to question Clifford about the murders after he fired a bolt into his upper body before they tracked him down. The manhunt for the crossbow killer had survived several hours before he was found unconscious in Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield, London and rushed to hospital.

An aerial video taken at the time showed a man believed Clifford lying on a stretcher while he was treated by three paramedics in orange high-vis jumpsuits, with police in black combat gear visible too. According to The Sun Clifford, who briefly served in the British Army, had pierced his spinal cord, leaving him paralysed.

The paper reported the cold-blooded killer was unlikely to ever walk again and in September, when Clifford appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court, the court heard he now uses a wheelchair. Police had previously revealed Clifford had a "voice injury", limiting how loudly he could speak and he could hardly be heard when he spoke to confirm his name and address in court.

The killer awaited trial at HMP Norwich, a category B/C prison for adult and juvenile males which previously housed gangster Reggie Kray and Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs. As his case progressed at Cambridge Crown Court, Clifford was seen on a videolink sitting in a wheelchair in his prison-issued grey tracksuit.

According to the Prison Reform Trust, disabled prisoners live with the general prison population, and the facility must make 'reasonable adjustments' to ensure as much. Most of the cells at HMP Norwich are single cells and he will likely be housed on the ground floor. However, those who need ongoing medical care stay in the hospital wing. It is not currently clear how much care Clifford needs.

The killer's older brother Bradley Clifford is also a convicted murderer. In 2018, the 30-year-old, was handed a life sentence at the Old Bailey for killing an 18-year-old who smashed a bottle on his "prized" red Mustang car. Clifford had ploughed into Joshua Francis, 19, who was riding a moped, and his pillion passenger Sobhan Khan, 18, after drunkenly chasing them through Enfield at nearly double the speed limit, on the wrong side of the road.

Both teenagers were flung into the air, leaving Sobhan gravely injured. Clifford, said to be in an "intense rage", had punched him nine times when he lay dying on the ground. He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 years for murdering Sobhan and seven years for the attack on Joshua, who escaped serious injury, to run concurrently.