“Domestic abuse, coercive control, misogyny, then murder” – crimes like this against women are never fully investigated until it’s too late. According to Refuge, one in 4 women will experience domestic abuse and one woman is killed by their abusive ex or partner every 5 days in England and Wales. Despite these shocking statistics, women are too frightened to speak out about their abuse for fear of not being believed or retribution by their partner. It’s a vicious circle of shame, fear and denial. And similarly, friends of the abused person (and usually first-hand witnesses of the abuse they could report – like Hannah Hunt’s friends) are too scared to speak out too. They fear they would experience the same abuse they and they don’t want to get involved for fear of retaliation on them and their family members.
So why does it take a triple murder for people to sit up and take notice? On reflection it is because it is now safe to do so, Kyle is in police custody. Before he was a revered soldier – fighting in wars and saving his country. He was powerful. Testimony to the contrary would seem crass and unpatriotic.
So now we have a situation where 26-year-old Kyle Clifford, a dangerous controlling narcissistic sociopath, was allowed to abuse Louise Hunt for years without so much as a tap on the shoulder. Feeling invincible, on July 9th, Clifford was able to walk into the Hunt family home and brutally murder his ex-girlfriend Louise (26) her sister Hannah (28) and mum Carol (61) with a crossbow. The women fought for their lives and got messages to police but it was too late. They all bled to death. You can only imagine how harrowing their last minutes were as they saw their beloved family members die in front of them.
Louise’s friends, have provided statements about the extent of Kyle’s abuse – but would not do while their friend was alive. According to these multiple reports, Kyle abused his girlfriend on a daily basis going through her phone, not permitting her to wear make-up or go out in public without him and cutting her off from friends and family members. Louise ended the relationship with Kyle 5 days before her murder and eerily posted on Twitter days before her death how she has respect for “women that walk away from abusive relationships.”
Unfortunately, her statement could have been her demise. Abusers like Kyle thrive on being “in power” and when that power shifts like the public social media shaming in the post she did against him, Kyle acted out in retaliation. He killed her and her family, before turning the crossbow on himself. According to reports, Kyle is now paralysed and will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. In a statement released after the deaths of his wife Carol, and daughters Hannah and Louise, BBC racing commentator John Hunt spoke of “devastation on an unimaginable scale.”
He said, “Notwithstanding the horrid evil that’s swept through our lives, wrecking devastation on an unimaginable scale, the counter to that has been the breathtaking messages of support, some of which are still to be read. Amy, my eldest daughter, has been magnificently inspirational with her control and support for me, which I am trying, trying so hard, to replicate. Every message has felt so important, the same as a reassuring hug.”
