News, Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire PoliceThe Court of Appeal has rejected a request for a teenager who murdered three members of his family to never be released from prison.
Nicholas Prosper, now 19, killed his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, his sister Giselle, 13, and his brother Kyle, 16, at their flat in the Leabank tower block in Luton in September 2024.
In March, he was given a 49-year minimum term in jail, but the solicitor general referred the case to the appeal court under the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme and asked for a whole-life order to be imposed.
Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr rejected the request, citing Prosper’s young age and the fact he would be in his late-60s before he could be considered for release.
She told the appeal court: “Appalling though these crimes were, we are not persuaded that anything less than a whole-life order was unduly lenient.
“It is a sentence that requires a youth of 18, as he was at the time of his arrest, to remain in custody until he is in his late 60s and one that might result in him never being released.”
Prosper watched the appeal via a video-link from HMP Belmarsh, often fidgeting in his seat.
As part of his life sentence for murder, his minimum term of 49 years remains in place and it will be the mid-2070s before he is considered for release on parole.
ContributedProsper, then 18, had used a gun and knife to kill his family in the early hours of 13 September 2024.
He also admitted to weapons charges after he had planned a mass shooting at his former primary school in the town.
After a noisy struggle with his family, the police were called by a neighbour, forcing Prosper to hide and interfering with his prepared schedule.
After hiding for nearly two and a half hours he flagged down a passing police officer, having given up on his plans to commit a massacre at the school.
Prosper was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes, with a minimum term of 49 years.
Solicitor General Lucy Rigby KC referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal in April, branding it “unduly lenient”.
The Attorney General’s Office said that Prosper “ought to have been given a whole-life order” which would prevent him from ever being released.
Whole-life orders are reserved for the most serious crimes and until 2022 could not be given to anybody under the age of 21.
Those aged between 18 an 20 can only receive the sentence in exceptional circumstances, even when compared to crimes committed by older offenders.
When Prosper was sentenced in March the judge did not issue a whole-life order due to his young age, his guilty plea and the fact he did not actually carry out the planned school shooting.
PA MediaTom Little KC, prosecuting, told the hearing at the Court of Appeal: “What the facts reveal is a case which, on any view, was exceptional, even in the context of a murder.
“It was a murder of three people, two of them were children, including the intended rape of the sister. That did not take place, but it had been intended.”
Prosper’s defence told judges that the sentence, with its 49-year minimum term, “cannot be said to be unduly lenient”.
David Bentley KC, for Prosper, said: “The reality is that with the existing sentence, the earliest date he could actually be considered for parole is in his late 60s, and the dangerousness is covered by the life sentence.”
The lead judge Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr remarked: “No sentence can ever reflect the value of lives lost.”
She went on to offer the court’s sympathies and condolences to those affected by Prosper’s murders in Luton.
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