Bushey MP prepared to back new crossbow legislation, should it come to it
It follows the murders of two daughters and their mother in Bushey last July
Watford and Bushey MP Matt Turmaine is prepared to support tighter crossbow regulations following the murders of three women in Bushey last year.
Kyle Clifford, from Enfield, killed 25-year-old Louise Hunt, her 28-year-old sister Hannah, and their 61-year-old mother Carol on 9 July last year.
He used a crossbow to murder Louise and Hannah and stabbed Carol to death with a butchers knife.
The attack has ignited calls for tougher regulation around crossbows.
Mr Turmaine, whose constituents continue to be deeply affected by the extreme violence inflicted by Clifford on the Hunt family, said he would welcome a change in the law, limiting the sale and use of crossbows.
He said: "I contacted the Home Office to ask about the question of crossbows and have been in communication with them.
"It’s important that if we can, we change legislation to tighten it up yet further on this particular issue."
"It’s obviously for the relevant ministers to lead on that legislation, but it would be certainly something that I would be lending my support to.
"Anything we can do to tighten up legislation around access to them is something that we should do."
The case has also highlighted the ongoing issue of violence against women and girls.
Just last week, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips listed the name of each woman killed by a man in the UK last year, including Louise, Hannah and Carol Hunt.
It took her over four minutes to get to the bottom of the list.
Mr Turmaine, who was present in Parliament at the time, said: "You don’t get a much more explicit case than this in terms of demonstrating how important it is that as a society, we really address this problem.
"The work that the government is doing in terms of raising the profile of dealing with violence against women and girls and making it such a huge priority is really, really important."
He however acknowledged that more needs doing to keep the government's fight going, and halving violence against women and girls.
A key area he identified is the need for more cases to be prosecuted.