Triple killer who wanted to be notorious mass murderer jailed for life
Nicholas Prosper, 19, from Luton, murdered his mother and two siblings and was plotting a school shooting because he wanted to be famous.
A triple murderer who killed three members of his family and was plotting a school shooting has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 49 years.
Nicholas Prosper, 19, from Luton, who wanted to become a notorious mass murderer, was sentenced at Luton Crown Court on Wednesday.
He was jailed for life for the murders with a minimum term of 49 years – a total of 48 years and 177 days when the amount of time he has already been in custody is taken into account.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told him: “You intended to unleash disaster on the community of Luton. Your plans were intelligent, calculating and selfish.
“Your ambition was notoriety. You wanted to be known posthumously as the world’s most famous school shooter of the 21st century.
“The lives of your own mother and younger brother and sister were to be collateral damage on the way to fulfil your ambition.”
He had to be ordered to come to court after initially refusing to attend the second day of his sentencing hearing.
Prosper shot his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, and siblings Giselle Prosper, 13, and Kyle Prosper, 16, at the flat the family shared in Luton, Bedfordshire, on September 13 last year, and stabbed his brother more than 100 times.
He hid for just over two hours before flagging down police officers in a nearby street and showing them where he had hidden a loaded shotgun and 33 cartridges near playing fields.
The teenager, who had been unable to stay in education or hold down a job, had been planning to carry out a mass shooting at his old primary school driven by a desire for notoriety.
A forensic psychiatrist said he had “an extreme lack of empathy and remorse”, which were psychopathic tendencies.
Prosper managed to forge a gun licence and used it to buy a shotgun and 100 cartridges from a legitimate firearms dealer the day before the murders.
The Government said it is “urgently looking” at how “deep and long-standing weaknesses in the private sale of firearms” can be addressed.
He admitted three counts of murder as well as purchasing a shotgun without a certificate, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life and possession of a kitchen knife in a public place at an earlier hearing.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 18 years for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, 3.5 years for buying the gun and one year for possession of the knife, to run concurrently.
Prosper refused to stand in the dock as he was sentenced.
Horror unfolded at the family flat at about 5am on September 13 last year, when Prosper carried out a test shot into a teddy bear in his bedroom before launching the attack.
He first killed his mother, leaving a copy of the novel How to Kill Your Family on her legs, before shooting his “terrified” sister as she hid under a table, and then stabbing and shooting his brother.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb told the court that Juliana Falcon was a hard-working woman who cared for her children and had tried to get Prosper to get help when he was struggling at school.
“She was an innocent victim of an ungrateful, unfeeling son, whose only wish was to be famous through destroying the lives of young children,” the judge said.
Kyle Prosper had “his whole future ahead, he fought bravely for his life, but there was no contest with his older armed brother”, she told the court.
Giselle, who was just 13, was “a smiling girl, no doubt the treasure of her parents and friends”.
Prosper later told a prison nurse he had wanted to cause “the biggest massacre in the 21st century” by murdering his family and carrying out a mass shooting at his former primary school.
He deliberately chose Friday 13 for the day of the attack.
Throughout secondary school up to the end of year 11 there had been no concerns about him – he was described as a quiet and geeky boy with a small group of friends who were into computers.
But once he began sixth form he stopped engaging with school staff or his family, and refused help from mental health workers.
His then-undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder meant he could not stay in mainstream education or hold down a job, and he became increasingly isolated, spending more time online and becoming obsessed with school shootings.
Defending, David Bentley KC said he had gone down “an internet wormhole”.
He plotted for months to kill his family and carry out the school shooting, even choosing a black and yellow uniform that he would wear for the killing spree.
Speaking outside court, Detective Superintendent Rob Hall read a statement on behalf of Raymond Prosper, the father of Nicholas, Giselle and Kyle.
It said: “We are devastated by the loss of our loved ones, and are horrified to hear what Nicholas had planned. He had completely isolated himself from us over the past year, and we had no knowledge of his intentions.
“We now see the deaths of Juliana, my son Kyle and daughter Giselle, had much more meaning and importance. Their deaths and the fast response of Bedfordshire Police stopped any other family in the community going through the pain we have suffered.”
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb also told the court: “Juliana Falcon, Kyle Prosper and Giselle Prosper’s deaths are almost certain to have saved the lives of many children. The community owes them its gratitude and their memory should be honoured.”
Prosper, who wanted to outdo the death tolls seen in the 2012 Sandy Hook and 2007 Virginia Tech school massacres, has expressed pride in his crimes since he has been in prison, the judge said.
Detective Chief Inspector Sam Khanna, who led the investigation, said Juliana, Kyle and Giselle “were brutally murdered by someone they loved, who they should have been able to trust”.
“It is their names we should be saying and remembering today and in the future, rather than the person who carried out such sickening crimes,” he said.
“In my entire policing career, which has included many years spent on the major crime team, I’ve never encountered anyone capable of such horrific acts, of showing no remorse.
“I’ve been utterly shocked and appalled by the actions and plans of the offender in this case, and I’m pleased that this truly evil individual will serve a significant proportion of his life behind bars.”
The sentence handed to Prosper was subsequently referred to the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme by Conservative shadow justice minister, Dr Kieran Mullan MP.
“What exactly does someone have to do in his country to be sent away for life? This was the most serious of crimes, including the murder of two children,” Dr Mullan said.
“What is the point of making provision for whole life orders if they aren’t used in cases like this? It makes a mockery of the justice system and is an insult to the victims.
“This is the latest in a series of cases that demonstrate too often there is a gap between what the majority of law-abiding members of the public would see as justice and what the judicial system delivers.”
