An evil killer who slaughtered his own family and planned “the biggest massacre in the 21st century” was forced to hear his fate in court. Twisted teen Nicholas Prosper was sentenced to life in prison after killing his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, and siblings Giselle, 13, and Kyle, 16, as well as planning to shoot more than 30 children at a nearby primary school.
Prosper, 19, who had a “disturbing fixation with violence and obsessive brutality”, wanted to cower in his cell during the sentencing hearing at Luton Crown Court. But judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb declared: “It is not your choice. You have to face the consequences of your actions, to hear the court’s sentence passed in public, and it is important for those who loved your victims to see you sentenced.” The declaration led to renewed pressure to force every convicted killer into the dock to face “the devastation they have caused”.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Brutal killers shouldn’t be able to hide in their cells. These cowards should be forced to hear their sentencing, to face their victims’ families and see the devastation they have caused. The judge was right to force Prosper into court.”
Gangster Thomas Cashman, who shot schoolgirl Olivia Pratt-Korbel, baby killer Lucy Letby and monsters Jordan McSweeney and Koci Selamaj are all among high-profile criminals to have not appeared in the dock after some of Britain’s most heinous offences.
Killers have been able to hide in their cells after chaos engulfed plans to change the law, the Daily Express can reveal.
The Conservatives, under Rishi Sunak, confirmed they wanted to give judges the power to compel murderers to attend their sentencing hearings. But the Criminal Justice Bill, which contained the measures, did not pass through Parliament before the General Election.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has confirmed it plans to change the law so criminals are forced to attend their sentencing hearings.
Prosper was jailed for life for the murders with a minimum term of 49 years. Det Ch Insp 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.”
Prosper shot his mother and siblings in their home last September 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.
Going through the details of the horror that unfolded at the flat, Mrs Cheema-Grubb described how Prosper’s mother had woken first, realising something was “terribly wrong”.
“She struggled with you before you shot her in the head at very close range in the hallway, you placed a novel with the title How To Kill Your Family on her legs.”
His sister Giselle then woke up, and he shot her from a distance, grazing the back of her head.
The court was told how the “terrified girl” tried to hide under a table, but he then fatally shot her above the right eye.
Kyle woke up and tried to hide in the kitchen, grabbing a knife to protect himself.
“It was an unequal contest,” the judge said. “You shot him in the chest from a distance, but then, while he was still alive and moving, stabbed and slashed him more than 100 times to his head, face, neck, torso and limbs, while he pleaded with you not to kill him.”
Kyle then ran to the hallway, where Prosper fatally shot him in the head.
Prosper had later that morning planned to kill more than 30 schoolchildren. He had even chosen a black and yellow uniform to commit the atrocity.
Speaking outside court, Det Supt 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.”
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 because he wanted to be notorious.
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.
His case featured many “recurrent themes” seen in school shootings, she said, a young male perpetrator who chose a “uniform” for the killings, had a sexual interest in children, withdrew into an online world and showed a lack of empathy towards victims.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said stronger action must be taken to stop killers who become obsessed with violence while viewing extreme content online.
Nicholas Prosper withdrew from school work and his family after his GCSEs in 2022 and retreated into an isolated life spending more and more time online.
Ms Cooper said: “What we have seen again in this case again is senseless killings fuelled purely by a disturbing fixation with violence and obsessive brutality.
“This terrible case has exposed deep and longstanding weaknesses in private firearms sales, and we are urgently looking at how we can tighten these controls.
“But it also shows an urgent need to look at the very disturbing way some young people are becoming fixated with extreme violent material online and the real dangers to our communities as a result.
“From tech companies to law enforcement to schools, and right across society, stronger recognition of the nature of this threat is needed, and stronger action to prevent this kind of terrible violence.
“This Government will not shy away from taking the actions that are needed to keep communities safe.”
Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana had also searched for violent material online before he murdered three girls and injured eight other children and two adults at a dance class last summer.
He looked for information linked to school shootings and terror attacks and was referred to the Government anti-extremism programme Prevent three times at the ages of just 13 and 14.
Rudakubana had stopped engaging with mental health workers and also spent several months plotting an atrocity.
The punishment handed down to Prosper has already been referred to the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, this newspaper understands.
The case could now be considered for referral to the Court of Appeal.
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 13th 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.
Mitigating, David Bentley KC said he had gone down “an internet wormhole”.