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 also stabbed 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.
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.”
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