The Home Secretary and the Minister of State for Security plan to ‘take a view in the near future’ regarding crossbow laws in the UK.

This comes after three women, Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Hannah Hunt, 28, and Louise Hunt, 25, were all killed by the weapon in Bushey, Hertfordshire, on Tuesday, July 9.

They were the wife and children of BBC and Sky Sports commentator, John Hunt.

Following the horrific attack, a 26-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.

The incident took place just two months after a man stabbed his neighbour and shot a policeman with a crossbow near High Wycombe.

The attack occurred on Friday, May 10 on School Close, Downley, with the emergency services, forensics and paramedics arriving at the scene.

No-one was killed in the incident and a 54-year-old man was arrested at the scene.

Following the crimes, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she will ‘take a view in the near future’ of whether tougher crossbow laws are needed.

Additionally, Dan Jarvis, who is the security minister, has demanded change must take place.

He told Sky News: “I know that the Home Secretary [Cooper] is looking at this literally as we speak.

“There was a call for evidence that was initiated a number of months ago.

“She will want to consider that evidence in the round.

“She’ll want to look clearly, very carefully at what happened yesterday – devastating events – and she will take a view in the near future.”

As it stands, the only requirement to own or purchase a crossbow is having to be 18 years old or over.

And the current discussions are not the first to try and change the law on owning the archaic weapon in the United Kingdom.

Former home secretary, Priti Patel, ordered a review into crossbow controls after Jaswant Singh Chail broke into Windsor Castle with one in an attempt to kill Queen Elizabeth II on Christmas Day in 2021.

Chail was given a 14-year prison sentence, five of which are to be served on license.

It was not until February this year [2024] that the Home Office opened a call for evidence on a possible tightening of rules around the weapons.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Jarvis said: “We’ll want to look very carefully at the legislation that’s in place at the moment and we’ll need to come to a conclusion sooner rather than later as to whether the current legislation is appropriate or not.

“If we decide that it isn’t … then we’ll need to make changes to the legislation. But we need to do this properly.

“There needs to be due process.”