Why Kyle Clifford's horrific murders should make us all think again about death penalty

Kyle Clifford, a coward mired in self-pity, might not have killed his three victims if there had been the threat of a death sentence

The death penalty was barbaric and illiberal, with little evidence that it deterred most killers. Juries shied away from convicting for murder and there was always the chance of an irreversible miscarriage of justice.

So goes the orthodoxy around the death penalty and most of these assertions have merit. Most murders , and I have been involved in investigating a few, are committed by people who have been overcome by passion or who have lost all reason along with their temper in the heat of the moment. For crimes committed in a blind rage, no prospective punishment could act as a deterrent.

I was involved in the hunt for two of the worst serial killers. The multiple child killer Robert Black was sexually fixated with children. A colleague described him as like a guided missile, utterly compulsive when he saw a likely target.

One of many floral tributes left at the house in Bushey, Hertfordshire, where Carol Hunt, 61, and two of her daughters, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, were murdered by Kyle Clifford (Picture: Jonathan Brady) | PA

A cold, calculated act of evil

Likewise Angus Sinclair, the World’s End Killer, was a sexual predator with such a high regard of himself that he would not have been able to imagine being caught, let alone weigh the consequences. I doubt these monsters would have been deterred by the prospect of a death penalty.

However there is surely the possibility that some killers would be. I was thinking about this when reading about the awful crimes of Kyle Clifford, the young man who brutally and in cold blood raped and murdered his ex-girlfriend and murdered her mother and sister.

Having been dropped by his former girlfriend, his jealousy and self-pity was such that he set out on an elaborate scheme to slaughter her and her family. He even made sure the only man in the family would not interrupt his crimes.

Equivalence in murder is a tricky business but it is hard to imagine a more cold and calculated act of evil. And I wonder if there had been even the remotest prospect of a death penalty whether Clifford would have committed these murders.

A penalty for the most exceptional circumstances

Clifford is a narcissist, whose preening self-love was a contributory factor in his crimes. This was no murder/suicide act of self-destruction. He attempted to escape and it was only when he was cornered that he attempted self-harm. He is also a coward as his refusal to attend his sentencing and face the consequences surely attests.

Perhaps, just perhaps, had there been even the remotest chance of a death penalty, a man like Clifford might have been deterred. I do not suggest a general return of capital punishment, but perhaps as a backstop, in the most exceptional of cases, it would serve as a deterrent for some.

Familiar lessons about misogyny are being learned from the Clifford case. Fair enough, but for me there is another more important question. Is there a way to deter killers like Clifford?

This is a debate that in a mature society we should surely have, with all options on the table. But don’t hold your breath. I suspect few, if any, of our political leaders have the stomach to put such matters to the test of public opinion.

If you are in two minds and have a strong disposition, read the details of the Kyle Clifford case and then see what you think.

Tom Wood is a writer, former police officer and author of The World’s End Murders – The Inside Story