Chilling moment Nicholas Prosper moans 'it's not murder' on arrest for killing his family, as he's jailed for 48 years
19 March 2025, 14:32 | Updated: 19 March 2025, 14:35
This is the chilling moment a teenage triple murderer who killed his mother, brother and sister moaned "It's not murder" as he was arrested by police.
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Nicholas Prosper, 19, from Luton, - who wanted to be Britain's deadliest school shooter - also plotted to carry out "killing for the sake of killing" at his former primary school in a bid to become a notorious mass murderer.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Prosper had also been planning the mass-shooting for a year, and has since admitted in prison he wanted to cause the "biggest massacre of the 21st century" and be "more famous than Sandy Hook."
The Home Secretary described the killings as a "horrendous and cowardly attack of unthinkable brutality".
The teen refused to attend Luton Crown Court on Wednesday but was then ordered to be brought to the sentencing, the first of a slew of delays.
His father wept in court as Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb described the morning of the killings.
Nicholas Prosper says 'it's not murder' as he's arrested over Luton killings
In the early hours on Friday 13 September last year, a neighbour heard Prosper shoot dead his family members.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: "When your mother realised you had a gun she struggled with you before you shot her in the head in the hallway."
She said Nicholas Prosper had blood on his hands, clothes and glasses when found by police.
He later admitted in custody to joining a "paedophile Twitter group", and had disposed of two mobile phones following the killings to protect his online friends from being arrested, the judge told the court.
She added the defendant was "inappropriately cheerful" after being detained by police.
Prosper planned to carry out "a murder spree for the sole purpose of glorifying the perpetrator in the history of mass killers.
"Prosper was fascinated by school massacres, and police found extensive searches of this on his devices after they arrested him.
Read more: Teen who murdered his family and planned school massacre jailed for life with minimum of 48 years
CCTV shows teen murderer Nicholas Prosper buying a gun in car park
The teenager illegally acquired a shotgun with over 30 cartridges the day before the murders by creating a fake gun certificate.
He planned to turn up to his former school on the morning of Friday 13 September, wearing a school uniform and yellow cap as a disguise, before shooting dead pupils at the school.
However, Prosper’s mother found him in his brother’s room in the early morning before he left home to commit the attack, which foiled his plans.
Prosper then shot dead his mother, brother and sister and gunshots could be heard by a neighbour in the nearby flat.
Police were called and later found Prosper en route to the school, with a loaded shotgun and 30 gun cartridges hidden in a bush nearby.
Prosper was arrested for acting suspiciously, with his arm in the air, before he was able to carry out the mass school atrocity.
The police and CPS believe Prosper was motivated by notoriety and wanted to be the most famous school shooter of the 21st century.
Prosper had not been charged or sentenced for any terror offences, as there is no belief he wanted to commit these atrocities for the religious or political reasons needed to meet the terror definition.
He had not been known to police or previously referred to Prevent.
Police say he had an obsession with violent video games, and also found that he possessed indecent images of children.
Prosper has since told a mental health practitioner that he had planned to kill himself after committing the mass school shooting.
A psychiatrist has stated that Prosper has traits of someone on the autistic spectrum, and that he has no expressed any remorse or empathy since being in prison.
However, the CPS stresses that they believe it is notoriety, and not any mental health related problems, which drove Prosper to plan and commit these attacks.
Nicholas Prosper seen playing with wooden gun in footage
'Unthinkable brutality'
Following his conviction, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “This was a horrendous and cowardly attack of unthinkable brutality. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Juliana, Kyle and Giselle at this devastating time.
“It is hard to comprehend what might have happened were it not for the courageous response of police officers to arrest the killer so quickly. Thank you to them for saving innocent young lives.
“There are very serious and disturbing questions about a case of such extreme violence.
"A Domestic Homicide Review will now be conducted to explore everything that has happened.
"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.”
