Gun laws must be urgently reviewed to tackle “serious shortcomings” after a teenager plotting a school massacre was able to purchase a shotgun with a forged licence he made on his computer, a police commissioner has warned.
Nicholas Prosper, then 18, killed his mother, brother and sister with the weapon, which he bought from a legitimate private seller for £650 along with 100 cartridges.
He had planned to use it to kill 30 schoolchildren at a nearby primary school in a meticulously planned attack he hoped would make him one of the worst mass killers in history.
But he was forced to abandon his plot after neighbours heard a violent struggle with members of his family and called the police, who swarmed the area after discovering lifeless bodies of his mother, brother and sister inside their Luton council flat.
Prosper pleaded guilty to the murders of his mother Juliana Falcon, 47, and his siblings Kyle, 16, and Giselle Prosper, 13, and was today sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 49 years.
Following the court hearing, Downing Street condemned the “appalling crime” and said the government is “urgently looking” at how controls can be tightened in the private sale of firearms.
An investigation concluded that the person who sold the shotgun to the triple killer had not committed any offences.
In a letter to home secretary Yvette Cooper, the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner John Tizard has called for an urgent review of firearms licensing.
The loner discovered that lethal weapons can be traded privately if the buyer is able to produce a genuine-looking paper firearms certificate to the seller.
Under current laws, sellers have seven days to notify the police of a firearm sale or exchange, but they don’t have to confirm with police that the certificate is genuine before exchange.
In the letter, Mr Tizard said: “This case has exposed a major system failure and some serious shortcomings in the current law.
“I believe that new legislation is needed to ensure public safety and to restore confidence in firearms licencing policy and process when firearms are sold or exchanged.
“I believe that one viable option would be for anyone wishing to purchase a firearm to provide documented confirmation from the police service that they have a legitimate entitlement to own a firearm, as well as proof of identity to the vendor. This confirmation needs to be shared by the police with the vendor ahead of sale and exchange.
“It is clear to me that there should be a national database of firearm licence holders or the ability of police services to be able to interrogate each other’s databases.”
He called for the issue to be addressed as “matter of urgency” and suggested any changes could be made through the current Crime and Policing Bill.
Prosper carefully researched online how to make a fake gun licence and learned enough about clay pigeon shooting to pretend to be an enthusiast who might want a shotgun.
He downloaded a blank firearms certificate and used a website which allows you to amend pictures so he could create his own fake.
He first became a member of GunTrader UK in April 2024. In August that year, he tried and failed to buy a gun on the site, but on 30 August was able to buy a shotgun and cartridges through an advert on a site called Gunstar.
Prosper offered £650 plus £30 petrol money, well above the asking price of £450. The seller said he seemed “polite and well spoken” when they met in a car park outside the family flat the day before his attack, where he showed him the forged certificate.
In order to get a genuine firearms licence in the UK, individuals have to satisfy their local police force that they do not pose a threat to public safety.
Those wanting a schedule one firearm, such as a rifle, have to have a “good reason” to own the weapon but shotgun applicants do not have to, provided the police are happy that they are fit to hold a gun licence.
Prosper’s actions were “cold, deliberate and without sympathy or emotion”, prosecutor Timothy Cray KC told Luton Crown Court, adding he wanted to “imitate and even surpass other mass killers around the world”.
He had carried out surveillance on St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, his former primary school, and selected a distinctive black and yellow costume for the attack.
He was prevented from seeing through the scheme “by chance and circumstance alone”, Mr Cray said.
No 10 has vowed to look into tightening gun laws in the wake of the shooting.
The prime ministers official spokesman said: “The case has exposed some deep and long-standing weaknesses in the private sale of firearms and we are urgently looking at how we can tighten these controls.”
Home secretary Yvette Cooper added: “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.”
