BBC racing commentator John Hunt broke down in an emotional interview, opening up for the first time about the murder of his wife and two daughters.
In a heartbreaking chat with his surviving daughter Amy, Mr Hunt said the trio have left behind a “legacy of love”.
Kyle Clifford, 26, killed his ex-partner Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah Hunt, 28, and their mother Carol Hunt, 61, in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on 9 July last year.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the murders, Mr Hunt revealed he still talks to them every day and that they had lived a life of “complete happiness”.
He told the BBC: “From the moment I wake up, I say good morning to each of them.
“Sometimes I say out loud to Hannah and Louise, ‘Girls, sorry I can’t be with you, I’m with your mum at the moment’.
“As I close my eyes at night, I chat to them as well. They’re very close to me all the time.”
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Mr Hunt and Amy decided to speak out for the first time because they do not want to be defined by the murders. They also said the initial reporting of the deaths was inaccurate, and it added to their grief.
“I want to breathe life back into my mum, Hannah and Louise as fully rounded people,” Amy added.
The BBC 5 Live horse racing commentator said he also rejects the reports that Louise had been in an abusive relationship with Clifford.
They said the family were very close and talked all the time, sharing everything with each other.
Louise owned a dog grooming business, and Hannah worked in beauty and aesthetics.
Their life was “one of complete happiness – awash with it, really,” Mr Hunt said.
Amy recalled going out to sushi with her two sisters one evening and said: “We were talking about how lucky we’d been as a family.
“To have had the parents we’ve had and the life we’ve had.”
John thought back to when Amy had returned home and told him and Carol what they had discussed.
“It’s a beautiful thing to recall,” he said. “It was a beautiful thing to hear at the time.”
Clifford gained access to the family home by deceiving Carol, then stabbed her to death. It was less than two weeks after Louise had broken up with him.
After killing Ms Hunt, he waited for an hour for Louise to enter the house, then restrained and raped her before murdering her with a crossbow.
He then fatally shot Hannah when she returned after work to the property in the quiet cul-de-sac of Ashlyn Close in Bushey.
Mr Hunt said Hannah had saved his life by sending a text to her boyfriend before she died, which alerted the police to who committed the murders.
The racing commentator was in central London at the time and believed Clifford had planned to kill him too.
“Police officers of 30 years’ experience had their breath taken away by how brave she was, how she was able to think so clearly in that moment, to know what she needed to do,” Mr Hunt said.
“I said it in court, and I said many, many times, her doing that has given me life,” he added.
Mr Hunt and Amy said that the family had struggled to warm to Clifford completely, considering him to be immature and inconsiderate.
However, nothing had pointed to Clifford being capable of murder.
“But did we have any indication that this man was capable of stabbing my mother, of raping Louise, of shooting Louise and Hannah? Absolutely not,” Amy added.
Prosecutors said at the time that Clifford became “enraged” when Louise ended their 18-month relationship, leading him to “carefully” plan the murders.
Police launched a manhunt for the killer and eventually found him injured in Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield, north London, after he shot himself in the chest with the crossbow. He was left paralysed from the chest down.
Watch ‘Standing Strong: The John and Amy Hunt Interview’ tonight at 9pm on BBC One and on BBC iPlayer
