A teenager convicted of murdering his mother and two younger siblings, as well as plotting a mass shooting at his former primary school, will not face an increased sentence after an appeal failed at the Court of Appeal this week. The convicted killer, Nicholas Prosper, 19, was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 49 years for his crimes, committed in September 2023. Despite the brutality and far-reaching impact of Prosper’s acts, senior judges have determined the current sentence to be sufficiently severe.
Prosper’s case, which shocked communities across Bedfordshire and beyond, centred on a violent spree at his family home in Luton. On 13 September 2023, he shot and killed his mother, Julianna Falcon (48), his younger sister Giselle (13), and his brother Kyle (16). The crimes came to light after Prosper himself flagged down police officers in the street just a couple of hours later, admitting to the horrific events and cooperating with authorities.
Further investigation soon revealed that Prosper’s violence was not limited to his family. Officers discovered he had hidden a loaded shotgun and 33 cartridges near his home, with clear evidence pointing to his intention to carry out a mass shooting at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, which he had attended as a child. The plan had included targeting both schoolchildren and staff, with Prosper allegedly seeking to gain notoriety as a school shooter.
At his March sentencing at Luton Crown Court, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb described Prosper’s intentions as “intelligent, calculating and selfish,” guiding the court through the extent of his detailed planning. In her remarks, she stated: “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.”
Following the original sentencing, an application was made for a harsher punishment. Prosecutors had called for a whole-life order, which would see Prosper die in prison. However, at this week’s Court of Appeal hearing, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, presiding alongside Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Wall, dismissed this call. Baroness Carr acknowledged the appalling nature of the offences, describing them as “of the utmost gravity” and highlighting “disturbing, recurrent themes around school shootings.”
In her ruling, Baroness Carr explained that while adults over the age of 21 can be handed whole-life orders in the most exceptional cases, the law sets a particularly high bar for offenders aged 18 to 20. Notably, the rules were amended in 2022 to allow for whole-life orders for this younger age group under the most extraordinary circumstances, but as yet, no one in this age bracket has received such a sentence. She commented: “Appalling though these crimes were, we are not persuaded that anything less than a whole-life order was unduly lenient.”
The decision underscores the legal and ethical dilemmas faced by UK courts in sentencing very young offenders for the most serious crimes. While the severity of Prosper’s actions was never in doubt, the judiciary must continue to balance the prospects of youth rehabilitation against the safety of the public and the demands of justice.
Whole-life orders are reserved for the gravest incidents. In recent years, their imposition has been limited, reserved for cases such as Louis De Zoysa, who murdered Metropolitan Police Sergeant Matt Ratana, and Kyle Clifford, convicted of multiple family murders in 2024.
Prosper, who followed court proceedings from HMP Belmarsh via video link, remains condemned to serve at least 49 years before he will be eligible for parole. The outcome of this appeal closes one chapter in a case that has already left an indelible mark on all those affected, whilst raising ongoing questions about how the UK legal system deals with young adults who commit atrocities of this magnitude.