Tougher laws needed for ‘lethal’ crossbows after Bushey murders, says minister
Stephen Kinnock said he was ‘sure’ the Home Secretary was looking at tightening regulations on owning crossbows.
Crossbows are a “lethal weapon” that should be more tightly regulated, a minister has said, following triple murderer Kyle Clifford’s conviction for rape.
Clifford used a crossbow to kill his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt and her sister Hannah Hunt, as well as stabbing their mother Carol Hunt to death at their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, last July.
He had already admitted to the murders, but on Thursday was also convicted of raping Louise Hunt in what prosecutors described as a “misogynistic” attack.
Asked on Friday whether the case showed crossbows should be banned, health minister Stephen Kinnock told Times Radio: “I think crossbows are a lethal weapon and they should be regulated.”
Adding he was “sure” the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, “will be looking at this”, he said: “It does seem to be too easy to get hold of a lethal weapon like a crossbow and it does seem that something does need to be done about that.”
It is currently illegal to sell crossbows to people aged under 18 or carry one in public without a reasonable excuse, but there is no licensing or registration scheme for the weapon and adults are free to buy them.
The previous Conservative government launched a consultation in February 2024 on introducing further controls on crossbow ownership after a 2021 incident in which a man, armed with the weapon, gained entry to the grounds of Windsor Castle.
That consultation suggested a firearms-style licensing scheme for crossbows, but progress was stalled by last year’s general election.
Following the killings in Bushey, the Home Office said Ms Cooper would “swiftly” consider the responses to the consultation “to see if laws need to be tightened further”.
Asked about calls to toughen controls on crossbows, Downing Street said the findings of the consultation would be published “shortly”.
On Friday, shadow justice minister Kieran Mullan declined to be drawn on whether he thought crossbows should be more tightly regulated, saying it was something the Government should “look at”, but he was “not going to make a specific policy in a morning media interview”.
He added: “What we have to be clear about is we should never distract from the individuals concerned in these sorts of cases.
“If people are intent on murdering somebody else, as was the case in this horrific circumstance, they have kitchen knives, all sorts of things they have access to.
“What we have to focus on is the individuals and their responsibility for this heinous act.”
