Man suspected of killing the family of BBC radio commentator has been found, British police say

Man suspected of killing the family of BBC radio commentator has been found, British police say
A police car is parked by Ashley Close in Bushey in the borough of Hertfordshire, north of London, on Jul. 10, 2024 after a triple “crossbow attack” murder. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 10 July 2024
Follow

Man suspected of killing the family of BBC radio commentator has been found, British police say

Man suspected of killing the family of BBC radio commentator has been found, British police say
  • Kyle Clifford, 26, from north London, is wanted in connection with the deaths of the three women in the town of Bushey
  • Local police said officers were called to a house in the town where the three women were pronounced dead at the scene

LONDON: British police said they found Wednesday the man suspected of killing the wife and two daughters of a well-known BBC radio commentator near London in a brutal crossbow attack.
In a statement, Hertfordshire Police said 26-year-old Kyle Clifford was found in the Enfield area of north London, near his home, and that he is receiving medical treatment for his injuries. Police did not say how those injuries happened but stressed that they had not fired any shots.
The BBC confirmed that the women killed were members of the family of its commentator John Hunt — his 61-year-old wife Carol Hunt and their daughters Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25.
Footage from Sky News showed the suspect being carried on a stretcher out of Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield, which is close to his home and around 52 kilometers (17 miles) to the east from the site of the killings. Armed police officers, forensic personnel and ambulance staff had massed around the cemetery through the day.
The public had been urged not to approach Clifford, who the BBC reported had been in the British Army for a brief period of service in 2022.
“Following extensive inquiries, the suspect has been located and nobody else is being sought in connection with the investigation at this time,” said Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit.
“This continues to be an incredibly difficult time for the victims’ family and we would ask that their privacy is respected as they come to terms with what has happened,” she added.
Jenkins said the investigation is moving “at pace” and that formal identification of the victims is yet to take place. She also said that the “premature” naming of the victims “caused great upset.”
Police had been scouring a park in north London, near the home of Clifford, after being alerted Tuesday about the killings in a house in Bushey, a residential area in northwestern London. Police and ambulance crews tried to save them, but they were pronounced dead at the scene.
John Hunt is the main racing commentator for BBC 5 Live, the corporation’s main news and sports radio channel. His voice is known to millions through his coverage of the world famous Grand National and The Derby.
A colleague of Hunt’s and BBC 5 Live’s lead presenter Mark Chapman struggled to hold back the tears as he expressed everyone’s shock and pain.
“We have a football match to bring you tonight ... and we will start our buildup to it shortly but this has been a heartbreaking day,” he said as he opened Wednesday’s coverage on 5 Live of England’s semifinal match against The Netherlands in soccer’s European Championship.
“John Hunt is our colleague and our friend, not just to the current 5 Live sport team but to all of those who’ve worked here with him over the past 20 years, and also to all of you who have enjoyed his superb commentaries,” Chapman said. “So on behalf of everyone connected to 5 Live Sport, our love and thoughts and support are with John and his family.”
The Daily Mail newspaper and others reported that Hunt found the bodies early Tuesday evening, after returning home from reporting at Lingfield Park racecourse south of London.
Police did not say how or whether Clifford, who is from London, was connected to the women, but British media had reported that he was an ex-boyfriend of one of the daughters.
Chief Superintendent Jon Simpson suggested the attack was not random and that the suspect knew the family.
Local council member Laurence Brass, who lives nearby, described the area as “a typical leafy British suburb” as he recounted his experience from the previous night.
“At about eight o’clock last night, I was watching the football on television, and suddenly a helicopter landed in the lawn outside my flat, which is at the top of this road, and then my phone started going, and I was told that there was a major incident here in Bushey and we should all keep away because there was somebody apparently on the run,” he told the BBC.
Britain’s new home secretary, Yvette Cooper, was kept “fully informed” about the “truly shocking” incident.
People in Britain do not need a license to own a crossbow, but it is illegal to carry one in public without a reasonable excuse.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said Cooper will “swiftly consider” the findings from a recently launched review into whether further controls on crossbows should be introduced.


Norway to extradite man to Rwanda for trial on murder charges in 1994 genocide

Updated 4 sec ago
Follow

Norway to extradite man to Rwanda for trial on murder charges in 1994 genocide

Norway to extradite man to Rwanda for trial on murder charges in 1994 genocide
The Oslo district court ruled in September 2023 that the conditions for extradition had been met

COPENHAGEN: Norway will extradite a man to Rwanda on the East African country’s request, to stand trial on charges of committing murder during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, Norwegian police said on Tuesday.
The Oslo district court ruled in September 2023 that the conditions for extradition had been met, and Norway’s supreme court in June last year affirmed the ruling after the defendant appealed the initial decision, police said in a statement.
Norway’s justice ministry decided on February 14 that the man, who was arrested in the Nordic country in 2022, should be extradited to Rwanda, citing its obligation under the United Nations Genocide Convention to do so, police said.

Suicide bombers detonate and breach wall of a military facility in Pakistan’s northwest

Suicide bombers detonate and breach wall of a military facility in Pakistan’s northwest
Updated 20 min 34 sec ago
Follow

Suicide bombers detonate and breach wall of a military facility in Pakistan’s northwest

Suicide bombers detonate and breach wall of a military facility in Pakistan’s northwest
  • Plumes of gray smoke rose into the air and there were gunshots after the explosions
  • Bannu is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban are active

PESHAWAR: Twin blasts struck a military facility Tuesday in the northwest Pakistani city of Bannu after suicide bombers blew themselves up to breach the wall, officials said.
Plumes of gray smoke rose into the air and there were gunshots after the explosions, said police officer Zahid Khan.
The army said two suicide bombers detonated near the wall of a sprawling military area in Bannu, which mainly houses offices and homes of security forces.
Bannu is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where militant groups like the Pakistani Taliban are active.
“After a breach in the wall, five to six more attackers attempted to enter the cantonment but were eliminated. Operations in the area are still ongoing,” the army said in a statement.
The blasts happened after sunset, when people would have been breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban, Jaish Al-Fursan, claimed responsibility for the attack, the third militant assault in Pakistan since Ramadan started Sunday.
In a statement, Jaish Al-Fursan said its fighters had killed dozens of security personnel. The army did not immediately provide casualty figures.
Armed groups have targeted Bannu several times. Last November, a suicide car bomb killed 12 troops and wounded several others at a security post.
In July, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle and other militants opened fire near the outer wall of the military facility.


Hungary PM Orban to meet French president for talks on Ukraine on Wednesday

Hungary PM Orban to meet French president for talks on Ukraine on Wednesday
Updated 43 min 44 sec ago
Follow

Hungary PM Orban to meet French president for talks on Ukraine on Wednesday

Hungary PM Orban to meet French president for talks on Ukraine on Wednesday
  • Orban also said that he sees more chance to find ways to cooperate on common EU security

BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday that he would meet French President Emmanuel Macron to talk about Ukraine on Wednesday ahead of an extraordinary summit of European Union leaders scheduled for Thursday.
Orban also said that he sees more chance to find ways to cooperate on common EU security than on Ukraine at Thursday's summit. Replying to a reporter's question Orban confirmed that he had a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump in Sunday and that they discussed 'everything.'


Ukraine ‘determined’ to maintain US ties after aid halt

Ukraine ‘determined’ to maintain US ties after aid halt
Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Ukraine ‘determined’ to maintain US ties after aid halt

Ukraine ‘determined’ to maintain US ties after aid halt
  • “Ukraine is absolutely determined to continue cooperation with the US,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said
  • “The US is an important partner and we need to preserve this“

KYIV: Ukraine on Tuesday sought to maintain bonds with Washington after President Donald Trump ordered US military aid deliveries be suspended following a public clash with counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump’s stunning decision strengthened fears in Ukraine and in many European capitals that America was pivoting away from its allies — and toward Moscow.
“Ukraine is absolutely determined to continue cooperation with the US,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal told reporters, adding: “The US is an important partner and we need to preserve this.”
US and Western security guarantees were “existentially important” for Ukraine and for Europe, he said, adding Kyiv was ready “at any time” to sign a strategic minerals extraction deal demanded by Trump.
The prime minister’s outreach followed Trump’s decision, which sent shockwaves across Ukraine, but which was also hailed by Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was a “solution which could really push the Kyiv regime to a peace process.”
“If the United States stops (military supplies), this would probably be the best contribution to peace,” Peskov said.
The European Union, which along with Ukraine, has been excluded from US-Russian negotiations toward a potential truce in Ukraine, has been scrambling to up its support for Kyiv.
That urgency heightened on Friday, when Trump and Zelensky clashed in the White House, with Trump warning his Ukrainian counterpart “won’t be around very long” without a ceasefire deal with Moscow.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday presented an EU plan to mobilize some 800 billion euros ($840 billion) for Europe’s defense.
She said the funding would permit EU countries to “massively step up their support to Ukraine” and provide “immediate military equipment for Ukraine.”
Poland’s government noted that America’s decision was made without consulting NATO allies, and the impact was already being seen at a weapons and aid logistics hub for Ukraine it hosts.
“Reports coming in from the border, as well as from our (logistics) hub... also confirm the announcements made by the American side,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said without elaborating.
The US pause has gone into effect immediately and impacts hundreds of millions of dollars of weaponry in the process of being sent to Ukraine, The New York Times reported.
Ordinary Ukrainians who spoke to AFP were shocked and angry at what they viewed as a betrayal by Trump.
“It’s like a stab in the back,” a 33-year-old financial assistant in Kyiv who gave only her first name, Sofia, told AFP.
Trump “wants Ukraine’s surrender, the deaths of our people, the surrender of our territories,” one army volunteer, Sergiy Sternenko, said on Telegram.
With the US aid pause, “everything can change,” a 48-year-old military recruiter in Kyiv, Volodymyr Perkhrest, told AFP. “I don’t think Europe is able to meet these needs,” he said.
Ukraine’s prime minister vowed in a news conference that “we will do everything to hold out” despite the US aid cut.
A Zelensky aide, Mykhailo Pdolyak, said on X his country was “discussing options with our European partners.”
Zelensky has yet to comment publicly on the halt of the US aid.
Last week, he visited Washington to sign the multi-billion-dollar minerals deal — but ended up not doing so after his showdown with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
Trump — who has labelled Zelensky a “dictator” — said Ukraine should be “more appreciative” of US support.
Zelensky has accused Trump of succumbing to “a disinformation space” created by Russia, which he says is not serious about pursuing peace.
Ukraine is seeking tough security guarantees around an end to the war.
With the United States opposing its bid to join NATO, Kyiv is turning to other measures backed by Western countries.
After weekend crisis talks in London, Britain and France are investigating how to propose a one-month Ukraine-Russia truce “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” — potentially backstopped by troops on the ground.


Germany suspends new financial aid to Rwanda over alleged support for M23 rebels in Congo

Germany suspends new financial aid to Rwanda over alleged support for M23 rebels in Congo
Updated 04 March 2025
Follow

Germany suspends new financial aid to Rwanda over alleged support for M23 rebels in Congo

Germany suspends new financial aid to Rwanda over alleged support for M23 rebels in Congo
  • The ministry said Tuesday that, “in consultation with partners,” it will further restrict bilateral cooperation with Rwanda
  • It said that it will review existing development cooperation with Kigali

NAIROBI: Germany’s development ministry said Tuesday it will suspend new financial commitments to Rwanda over that country’s alleged support of the M23 rebels in neighboring eastern Congo.
The ministry said Tuesday that, “in consultation with partners,” it will further restrict bilateral cooperation with Rwanda.
It said that it will review existing development cooperation with Kigali, suspend high-level participation in development events organized by the Rwandan government and seek “an appropriate reaction” regarding multilateral programs.
Germany said Rwanda was informed of the decision in advance in a conversation in which the position of the European Union and expectations of Rwanda — particularly withdrawal of its troops and an end to support for M23 — were again underlined.
Germany is the latest country to announce measures aimed at piling pressure on Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who previously has been defiant over his country’s efforts to secure its border with a largely lawless part of eastern Congo.
Rwanda recently said similar restrictive measures introduced by the UK were doing nothing to “help (Congo), nor do they contribute to achieving a sustainable political solution to the conflict in eastern (Congo).”
About 4,000 Rwandan troops are fighting alongside M23 rebels in eastern Congo, where the rebels now control the capitals of the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, according to a report by UN experts.
M23 is the most powerful of the many armed groups vying for a foothold in Congo’s east, a region possessing trillions of dollars in largely untapped mineral resources crucial for global technology.