Triple murderer will not be given whole-life order, Court of Appeal rules
The 19-year-old was also sentenced for weapons offences, having plotted a mass shooting at his former primary school.
The Solicitor General referred Prosper's sentence to the Court of Appeal in April, with barristers telling a hearing in London that a whole-life term was a 'just punishment' for the 'exceptional' crimes.
Barristers for Prosper, who is due to be released in his late 60s at the earliest, said the sentence 'cannot be said to be unduly lenient'.
In a ruling, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Mr Justice Wall, said that Prosper's sentence was 'itself a very severe sentence for a 19-year-old'.
She said: 'These were undoubtedly offences of the utmost gravity, with multiple features incorporating disturbing, recurrent themes around school shootings.'
She continued: 'Had the offender been 21 or over at the time of the offending, a whole-life order would undoubtedly have been made.'
She added that the sentencing judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, was right to conclude that the 'enhanced exceptionality test' of whether to pass a whole-life term on an 18-to-20-year-old was 'not met on the facts'.
She said: 'Parliament chose to set what is already a very high threshold for a whole-life order for an adult, even higher for a young offender.'
She concluded: 'Appalling though these crimes were, we are not persuaded that anything less than a whole-life order was unduly lenient.'
Prosper, who would have become the first person aged under 21 to be given a whole-life order if his sentence was increased, watched proceedings via a video link from HMP Belmarsh.
Whole-life orders are reserved for the most serious offences, with those handed the tariffs including Louis De Zoysa, who murdered Metropolitan Police Sergeant Matt Ratana in 2020, and Kyle Clifford, who murdered his ex-partner Louise Hunt, her sister Hannah Hunt and mother Carol Hunt last year.
Rules were changed in 2022 to allow younger defendants aged 18 to 20 to receive whole-life orders in exceptional circumstances, but no one in that age bracket has received the sentence since.
Reading out the judgment, Baroness Carr said that Prosper was 'deeply fascinated by notorious murders' and had 'started to plan emulating and indeed outdoing' the Sandy Hook school shooting in the United States.
The day before the killings, Prosper obtained a shotgun and 100 cartridges from a legitimate firearms dealer through a 'meticulously forged' gun licence, and planned to kill 34 people at a school, including 30 children.
He shot his mother in the early hours of September 13, placing a book named How To Kill Your Family on her legs, before shooting his sister.
Prosper then killed his brother, shooting him twice and stabbing him more than 100 times.
Prosper hid for more than two hours before flagging down police officers in a nearby street and showing them where he had hidden a loaded shotgun and 33 cartridges near playing fields.
Following his arrest, he was 'cheerful' and told police that he wished he had killed more people, Baroness Carr said.
Sentencing him at Luton Crown Court in March, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said that a whole-life term could only be given to someone in that age bracket if a court deemed 'that the seriousness of the combination of offences is exceptionally high'.
But she said that while Prosper was 'indisputably a very dangerous young man', the risk to the public was met with a life sentence.
The judge noted that both prosecution and defence barristers said that a whole-life term should not be imposed, and that he had not carried out the school shooting.
Tom Little KC, appearing for the Solicitor General on Wednesday, said in written submissions: 'The age of the offender and his guilty pleas, although relevant to the ultimate decision, did not inexorably lead to or mean that this was a case in which a whole-life order was not appropriate.'
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.'
Following the ruling, the Solicitor General, Lucy Rigby, said: 'Nicholas Prosper's brutal murder of his family and plans to attack school children and teachers shocked the whole nation.
'Given the nature and scale of the intended attack, I received several requests under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to consider his sentence.
'Following careful consideration, I concluded that Prosper's sentence should be referred to the Court of Appeal as it appeared unduly lenient.
'I respect the Court of Appeal's decision.
'My thoughts and deepest sympathies today are with Juliana, Giselle, and Kyle's loved ones, and everyone impacted by Prosper's crimes.'
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Daily Mail
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Daily Mail
6 hours ago
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Pub chef who sexually assaulted and murdered artist as she walked dog gets six more years in jail
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Jonathan Polnay KC, for the SG, said the judge at Canterbury Crown Court did not give enough weight to how Ms Knights had been targeted as a lone woman, the extreme nature of the violence and that her body had been hidden for two days before it was discovered. He also said the judge gave too much credit for Van-Pooss's guilty plea and his sentence therefore 'required an uplift of substance'. Quoting Canterbury Crown Court judge Mr Justice Garnham, he said: 'This was a merciless beating causing catastrophic brain injuries and multiple facial fractures. There would have been a very significant period of mental and physical suffering. 'She must have been terrified as she considered the likelihood that you were going to kill her.' Mr Polnay added: 'That is an aggravating factor of some weight. That's not part and parcel of a murder.' He also referenced mitigating factors considered by the original judge. One of those was Van-Pooss' guilty plea, which he submitted in December 2024, over a year after Ms Knights' death in August 2023. This followed several reports to determine the 21-year-old's mental status due to his presenting psychotic symptoms. It was deemed he did not have psychosis, and it was suggested he had faked such symptoms. Mr Polnay said: 'It took some considerable time for the plea to be entered. Reports were necessary for this case. 'I entirely accept the offender does have a mental disorder, but he inevitably made the process longer and more complicated. 'He is someone who has malingered and continued to present false symptoms.' Stephen Moses KC, for Van-Pooss, said the targeting was 'a matter of moments rather than pre-meditated'. He added: 'Any findings of fact that there was malingering are explained by the personality disorder, but are not, in our case, perverting the course of justice. 'Matters were consistent with a personality disorder rather than simply framing mental illness.' He also put forward that a previous defence taken by Van Pooss - that Ms Knights made sexual advances towards him - was never advanced, so should not alter the level of credit given. Ultimately, the Court of Appeal judges decided a mistake had been made in the original sentencing. Van-Pooss also pleaded guilty to upskirting another woman at the pub where he worked the day before he killed Ms Knights. After she reported this, Van-Pooss was dismissed on August 22, 2023, and he left, carrying a backpack with a chef's knife inside. He then built a 'den' by the railway lines near Minnis Bay, Lord Justice Edis said in his judgment. Ms Knights was believed to have been walking a white and brown spaniel called Zebulon when she ran into Van-Pooss the following day. Van-Pooss acted in a 'simple' and 'calculated' way, the judge added, as he beat her and stomped on her head, causing fractures and brain damage. Ms Knights was found concealed in a dyke, having been pushed into the water while she was still alive. Van-Pooss was arrested for the upskirting offence on the evening of the killing, and was later charged with murder. Lord Justice Edis said the killing of a lone woman created 'widespread concern in the local community' and that Van-Pooss received an unduly lenient sentence. He added: 'The first thing we wish to say is that we commend the experienced judge for his approach to this case. 'The judge, in dealing with a horrifying and dreadful case of this kind, has to firmly try and succeed in maintaining an objective approach. 'The judge's job is to apply the law it the facts of the case and to be fair to the person who is to be sentenced. That is not easy in any case like this. 'We believe in making this decision, the judge did fall into error because the aggravating factors did outweigh the mitigating factors. 'That is enforced by what we have to say about the defendant's conduct in mimicking psychosis.' They said a starting term of 33 years should have been given, with only two years deducted for the late guilty plea. Ms Knight's son Elliot Knights-Sloane and her younger sister Annie Watson spoke to KentOnline outside court today. Mr Knights-Sloane said: 'There were things that we felt were glossed over and ignored that were hugely significant in the first hearing, and have now been brought up and actually addressed. 'The principle of that is what matters more than anything else.' His aunt added: 'The three judges recognised that the perpetrator had strung this all along and malingered all the way through and fed the police the story. 'There's a sense of relief now, because every time you come (to court), it just throws you straight back to the horror of it. 'This means now we can get on and we can remember Claire as she should be remembered, and that's what's important.' Mr Knights-Sloane continued: 'We want her death to mean something, and we want something positive to come out of her death. 'If we can do anything towards stopping violence against women, that would be a positive thing.' At Canterbury Crown Court, Ms Knights' friends and family heard harrowing details of how she was ambushed as she strolled with her Springer spaniel in Minnis Bay, Birchington, on August 23, 2023. Van-Pooss subjected her to a vicious sexual assault and beating before dumping her unconscious, but still alive, in a nearby water-filled dyke. Solicitor General Lucy Rigby said: 'Lawrence Van-Pooss's attack on Claire Knights was horrific. He assaulted and brutally murdered her, in a totally random attack. 'I welcome the court's decision to increase Van-Pooss's sentence and I would like to express my deepest sympathies to Claire's family and loved ones.'
