A man has pleaded guilty to murdering a mother and two of her daughters at their home in Hertfordshire last year.

Kyle Clifford, 26, admitted killing Carol Hunt and her daughters Hannah and Louise in Bushey, near Watford, on 9 July.

Appearing at Cambridge crown court on Wednesday via video link, Clifford pleaded guilty to three counts of murder. He also admitted false imprisonment and the possession of two offensive weapons: a crossbow and a butcher’s knife.

He pleaded not guilty to the rape of Louise, a charge that was brought last month. A provisional date of 3 March has been set for a trial.

Clifford, from Enfield, was found in a cemetery in north London with injuries on the day after the killings.

The women were part of the family of the BBC racing commentator John Hunt, the husband of Carol, 61, and father to Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25.

A statement issued last year by him and his eldest daughter, Amy, said: “The devastation we are experiencing cannot be put into words.”