A teenager who murdered three members of his family wanted to become the UK’s worst mass school killer, a court has heard.
Nicholas Prosper, 19, shot dead his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, sister Giselle Prosper, 13, and brother Kyle Prosper, 16, at their family home in Luton, Bedfordshire, on 13 September.
He also stabbed his brother more than 100 times, Luton Crown Court heard at his sentencing on Tuesday – he pleaded guilty in February to their murders.
Prosper had planned to carry out a mass shooting at his former primary school before he was arrested, the court heard, where he planned to kill at least 30 children and two of their teachers.
The court was told he wanted to cause “the biggest massacre in the 21st century”.
The murders
Nicholas Prosper began planning the killings more than a year before he murdered his family.
Opening his sentencing at Luton Crown Court, prosecutor Timothy Cray KC told the court Ms Falcon was killed with a single shot to the top of the head, while Giselle died from a single penetrating wound over the right eye and there was evidence of impact from a second shot.
On Kyle’s cause of death, the prosecutor said: “The pathologist found two shotgun wounds, one to the right side of the chest and one to the top of the head.
“The nature of Kyle’s injuries is particularly distressing because in addition to the shots, there were over 100 knife wounds found on his body.”
Giselle was found under a living room table by police after she had been killed, the court heard.
Forensic examiners found that Nicholas Prosper had fired seven cartridges, the first shot being a test shot fired into a teddy bear in his bedroom.
He shot his brother twice and inflicted more than 100 stab or slash knife wounds. His mother also had defensive wounds on her hands and arms. She and Giselle were killed by gunshot wounds to the head.
Investigators said Prosper must have stopped to reload twice during the struggle as he killed his family.
Officers found blood throughout the flat, the court heard.
Prosper left the family flat at 5.33am, making off into a wooded area before police officers arrived at the scene at 5.50am after being called by a neighbour.
“They forced entry to number 82 and saw the lifeless bodies of the three victims,” said Cray.
“Juliana Falcon was found in the hallway. Kyle Prosper was also found in the hallway.
“Giselle Prosper was found underneath a dining table in the living room as if she had been trying to hide there.”
On the morning of the murders, neighbour Clarice Reyes went to knock on the door just after 5am to ask the family to be quiet after hearing banging like people fighting.
When she got to the flat, she described hearing groaning and punches or kicks. Her knocks on the door were ignored, and she then heard a gunshot. She ran away and called the police.
Another neighbour of Nicholas Prosper, Keane Price, heard three loud bangs which he thought were gunshots at around 5.30am on 13 September.
He thought the first two shots were around 10 seconds apart, with the third coming around 20 seconds afterwards.
Mr Price then saw a hooded figure staring up at the flats when he left the building for work at around 5.40am.
“What the neighbours had been hearing was the killing of Juliana, Kyle and Giselle, starting around 5am,” prosecutor Timothy Cray KC told the court.
Following the murders, at about 5.30am, Prosper hid the loaded shotgun in a black and yellow holdall in some bushes in playing fields in Bramingham Road, Luton, and hid his phones in the undergrowth.
He hid for about two hours before flagging down police and showing them where he had hidden the weapon, along with 33 cartridges, the court heard.
The defendant then kept repeating “it wasn’t murder” after being arrested, before telling the officers: “The gun’s over there.”
The court heard that he had managed to buy the shotgun by making a fake firearms certificate and deceiving a private seller.
Nicholas Prosper bought the gun in the car park near the flat where the family lived the day before the killing. CCTV of him meeting the seller and then carrying the weapon and 100 cartridges back into the building in a holdall was played to the court.
The court heard that a few days after the murders, Prosper told a prison nurse: “I wish I had killed more.”
It was told that Prosper did not hate his family and had a good life with them, but “just wanted to do this to be famous”.
The planned primary school attack
The court heard Prosper plotted to carry out “killing for the sake of killing” at his former primary school in a bid to become a notorious mass murderer.
He plotted the killing during assembly for children aged four and five at the school and had carried out surveillance including taking pictures of staff and pupils from the school website and checking lesson times.
Cray told the court: “The killing of his family was to be first step in an even more shocking mass killing.
“That same Friday morning, he had planned to kill at least 30 of the youngest pupils and two of their teachers at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Luton. This is the school he attended as a child. It is about three-quarters of a mile from his home.”
The court heard that his main wish was for “lasting notoriety”.
Cray said: “Specifically, he wanted to imitate and even surpass other mass killers around the world.
“He had conducted in-depth internet research on shootings in the United States of America, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.
“He understood his plans if realised, would bring about the greatest number of deaths in a school or other mass shooting in the United Kingdom and possibly even in the United States of America.”
Prosper wrote a note saying the planned shooting would be “one of the biggest events ever,” Cray said.
Opening his sentencing at Luton Crown Court, prosecutor Timothy Cray KC said: “He had planned to kill at least 30 of the youngest pupils and two of their teachers at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Luton. This is the school he attended as a child. It is about three-quarters of a mile from his home.
“He had been preparing these killings for months. His planning was cold, deliberate and without sympathy or emotion towards the actual victims or potential victims.”
The internet search history
Prosper had made online searches about shootings in the US, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.
From the night of 12 September, Prosper was continuously online until about 4am, searching for pornographic images of a character in The Walking Dead video game, the effect of gunshot wounds to the neck, and other searches relating to necrophilia.
The court heard that he was trying to increase the horror that would be felt when his devices were analysed by police, rather than having any real intention to carry out any sexual acts.
He made internet searches about mass killings including the Manchester bombing, the atrocity by Anders Breivik, and his old primary school.
He also filmed a sinister video of himself holding a plank of wood as a mock gun, pretending to shoot people, the court heard.
Prosper said after he was dead he would join a character called Clementine from The Walking Dead computer game, whom he had been friends with for some time, the court heard.
The court heard Prosper had undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but displayed “extreme lack of empathy with others and an extreme lack of remorse” that cannot be explained by ASD alone.
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