WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: John Hunt is preparing for the Cheltenham Festival less than two years after his wife Carol and daughters Hannah and Louise were brutally murdered
John Hunt has opened up about his grieving process as he prepares to take his place in the Cheltenham Festival commentary gantry. Hunt will be behind the microphone, less than two years after his wife and two daughters were brutally murdered.
He has found comfort in sport as he attempts to navigate life without his wife Carol and daughters Hannah and Louise. Kyle Clifford received three life sentences with three whole life orders in March 2025 for the murders.
He will spend the rest of his life behind bars after stabbing Carol to death, raping his former partner Louise and killing her and sister Hannah with a crossbow. Hunt is the BBC’s beloved and long-standing horse racing commentator and recently took centre stage whilst covering the Winter Olympics.
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Twenty months after the day that transformed his life forever, he is preparing himself for Cheltenham Festival, his most significant professional engagement of the year.
In an interview with The Telegraph, he has revealed how he has managed to become “comfortable” in life despite the horrific tragedy. He and his surviving daughter Amy have supported one another, and Hunt has also found his work beneficial, along with therapy, yoga, exercise and socialising.
“A couple of times, I’ve pushed it too hard,” he said. “And I’ve unravelled because of it. It writes its own rules, it’s the strangest thing. You can wake up at half past seven one morning and think, ‘I feel quite bright today’. And then, for no reason at all, come half past eight, you’re on your knees again.
“Ultimately, you have no control over how you’re feeling from one minute to the next. There’s a strength in the surrender to that. The next time it hits, you know that the intensity won’t be quite the same in an hour’s time.
“You develop a confidence that you can cope, even though nothing changes. I’m still exploring it, as you can tell. I’m still working it out.”
Hunt is also channelling his grief into campaigning on the issue of male violence. “There will be another girl, there will be another woman (that is killed), at the hands of a young boy or man. That will happen,” he told The Mirror last month.
“But if that young boy or man is out there at the moment feeling they’re drifting, they’re lacking focus, lacking self-esteem, just think about what your next move is.
“We just hope any young man watching doesn’t feel like we’re piling on them. Our boys are to be cherished and boys, we are completely with you. It’s certainly too late for people like Kyle Clifford but it’s the kids who are not yet at school that we’ve got to be thinking about.”
Hunt featured in an upcoming television series, Ross Kemp: Lost Boys, Deadly Men, examining the rising problem of violence against women and girls throughout Britain.
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