Teenager who murdered family wanted to be UK’s worst mass school killer

A 19-year-old who murdered his family and was plotting a school shooting wanted to be the worst mass school killer the UK has seen, a court has heard.

Nicholas Prosper, from Luton, Bedfordshire, plotted to carry out “killing for the sake of killing” at his former primary school in a bid to become a notorious mass murderer.

Luton Crown Court heard that he had been planning his crimes for months before he shot his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, and siblings Giselle Prosper, 13, and Kyle Prosper, 16, at the flat the family shared in the town on September 13 last year.

He carried out a test shot on a teddy bear in his bedroom before the killings, which also saw him stab his brother more than 100 times.

Prosper admitted their murders at an earlier hearing, 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 the beginning of his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, the court heard how Juliana and Kyle were found in the hallway of the flat the family shared in Leabank, while Giselle was found under a dining table where she may have been trying to hide.

Prosecutor Timothy Cray KC 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.

“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 court heard that his main wish was for “lasting notoriety”.

Mr 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”, Mr Cray said.

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.

His fascination with violence was such that, at one point, he even tried to contact a bereaved mother to ask for a picture of her murdered child, the court heard.

Mr Cray said: “The investigation suggests that the defendant acted alone. While he had read documents or manifestos produced by other mass killers, his plans did not arise from any particular political or ideological cause.

“The evidence suggests that what drove him on most was the desire to be famous or infamous as a mass killer. This was killing for the sake of killing.”

Prosper planned a black and yellow uniform that he would wear for his killing spree, filming a sinister video wearing the outfit in which he is seen using a plank of wood as a mock gun.

He managed to buy a shotgun and 100 cartridges from a legitimate online seller by making a fake shotgun licence, and pretending to be interested in clay pigeon shooting.

When he was arrested, he repeatedly asked police officers if they had seen the licence, and while in a cell said: “Are you capable of what I have done?”

Days after the murders, he also told prison nurse Tatenda Muketiwa, “I wish I had killed more”, and that he had wanted to cause “the biggest massacre in the 21st century” purely to be famous.

Prosecutors believe he deliberately made notes about his plan while in prison that he knew would be found, including a diagram of a school classroom with the words “kill all”.

One of the notes, found in his trainer sole after searches of his cell, read: “I was right in predicting no-one would’ve called the police had I killed them in their sleep. 3 shots under 30 seconds.

“The only known phone call to police that day was made by the bitch at the door as a result of my BITCH mother waking them up and it being turned into a long struggle.

“My plan wasn’t ‘stupid’. I was f****** right. MY MOTHER IS A STUPID F****** COW.”

Prosper also made references to cannibalism and raping a woman at knife point before the shooting, but it is believed this was purely to increase the horror at what he had done, rather than reflecting any real intention to carry out the acts.

The court heard a statement from his father Raymond Prosper, read by Mr Cray, who said that “part of my soul died” on the day of the killings, and that he had lost four members of his family.

Defending, David Bentley KC said that Prosper had been “severely socially and occupationally impaired from the age of 16”, and retreated into looking at harmful content online.

His autism spectrum disorder also meant that he had highly fixed interests, which fuelled his obsession with school shootings.

“This is a young man who has gone down, in effect, an internet wormhole,” Mr Bentley said.

He also told judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb that the court can give Prosper “some proper credit” for pleading guilty as soon as he was arraigned after psychiatric reports had been prepared, and that instead of carrying out the school shooting he had flagged down police and been arrested.

Sentence will be passed on Wednesday.