NEW 24 Hours in Police Custody - tonight 9pm - Channel 4

[teddydaniels]

A TV documentary that follows the work of a police force will show how the investigation into the actions of a teenage killer unfolded.

Nicholas Prosper used a shotgun to kill his mother Juliana Falcon, 48, his brother Kyle, 16, and his 13-year-old sister, Giselle, at their home in Luton on 13 September 2024.
The 19-year-old, who was arrested in the hours after the murders, was jailed for 49 years in March. A trial heard he intended to carry out a shooting at his former primary school.

The Channel Four series 24 Hours in Police Custody, which follows the work of investigators at Bedfordshire Police, will feature the case over two nights on 5 and 6 October.

When imposing a whole life sentence the judge has to determine the minimum tariff that they can impose, with reference to a variety of factors, if the exceptionality criteria of a whole life murder are not met (which the prosecution in this case didn't argue for by the way).

So the term is

• life imprisonment - the requisite for murder
• with a minimum term to serve, rather than a whole life order
• but the "minimum," in lay terms, for murder can be as low as 12 years - the starting point is set by statute
• in this case, the starting point was 30 years
• the judge explained why in his particular case this had to be increased to 49 years, which was STILL the least possible sentence she could impose in the circumstances, because the circumstances were so appalling.

49 years is an enormous minimum tariff. It's absolutely not the case that it's lightweight sentencing, and that is not what "minimum" means in this context.

Of course it’s no excuse. Many people have Autism/ADHD and don’t murder people (me included) built maybe if he got help when he was younger he may not have gone on to kill?

I am an autistic person who slipped under the radar until adulthood despite having obvious autistic traits growing up (many which I was bullied for). I don’t believe for on minute that this man showed no signs of autism growing up. The way he talks, the way he moves, his high intelligence? I also have the way they said he shows signs of being mildly autistic, there’s no such thing as mild autism. Just because this man is highly intelligent and very verbal it doesn’t mean he’s not severely effected by autism. It’s also very common for young men his age (with ASD) to suffer with psychosis and/or other mental health issues in their late teens. His behaviour should have been reported and he should have been sectioned before he managed to kill. Often parents don’t want to admit their child is extremely unwell, they fear what will happen to them, how they will be treated so they don’t say anything.

There are no excuses for what he did and despite his sentence of 49 years I don’t think he will ever be safe to be released? There are many people like him in prison. To commit those sorts of crimes you have to be mentally very unwell or a psychopath. The money it will cost to keep him in prison will be a crazy amount, the best outcome would have been if he had shot himself after killing his family.

Totally agree, no one is saying it’s an excuse for what he did.

My teachers and parents would say I showed no sign of ADHD growing up but actually you just need to look at my report cards and even some home video footage to see I very clearly did. This boy has slipped through the same net I did BUT who knows if a diagnosis and help would have prevented this. We can’t know.

On a friends recommendation I watched P2 last night. I'm going to try to watch P1 today.

so many on here seem to be down playing his crimes and upselling the autism mh ideas it actually sickening to read

No idea why the family didn’t do something as to be on the computer for that long with ASD traits.
The mums boyfriend knew he was a risk, and others had made comments about him years before. Just so sad but definitely a story that needed telling so other families with similar members can see what happens if you don’t seek help. A hard watch, all the police and emergency services that attend will be affected for years to come. Just shows how easy it is for those of that mindset to do the unthinkable. Beds police are a really small force with lots of crime that usually only happens in big cities and the program showed just how many police were involved so when people moan about parked cars, burglaries that have already happened so no point in police rushing round as it only need SOCO to visit it puts it all into perspective. Parents need to be keeping an eye on their children guns and knives and if they aren’t capable report them to people who can help not think well nothing will happen. Marsh Farm is full of people who know others that carry knives and guns but won’t do anything and until that culture is broken it won’t be the last incident that’ll happen.

not shocked the family aren’t happy as it shows they didnt raise concerns, but by showing it if it means one other person is dobbed in before they do something it was worth the pain it caused.
MF has loads of dealers and drug gangs so knife and gun crime is rife when their little darlings get murdered the parents write loads of rubbish about how they were angels yet the weeks before they were arrested for dealing and courts let them off.
as a society we need to spot the broken ones that will cause issues not wait for people to be killed because we were strong enough to do the right thing.
A very moving story of a man who was lost and others who should have spotted and reported didn’t, he had had issues since lockdown and in the 4 years after nothing was done. He bought a gun into a household and had knives and nothing was done. Support for families with children like this needs to be set up all that money that was given to MF after the riots was wasted and squandered by those that were given control and if anything MF is worse than before the riots with knife and gun crime the norm.

Not seen a single person downplay his crimes

My perception of this thread is that there is a hell of a lot of victim blaming going on. To point fingers at the family when they are the ones who died in a horrific manner seems, at best, crass.

The family aren't upset about the show because they don't want to be confronted with what they did or didn't too. They are upset because they are traumatised, the events are still very raw and recent and it feels, to them, like C4 are capitalising with sensationalism for clicks and views.

Marsh Farm is a tricky area for sure but the picture a PP is painting about what this family therefore must have been like (and by extension their community) could not be less accurate.

I think the main concern was how he went under the radar. I say this as a parent with a low functioning autistic/ID child who has had to fight/go to tribunals just so he can actually go to school and get support (watch last night's Panorama too for an idea of this).
Too often services just say "doesn't want to engage/has capacity" and then discharge as it lightens their load.

I don't think he received a proper assessment of risks, and I'm not sure if Prevent were involved either. But, as they said in the programme, the definition of terrorism needs to change so it is also related to gaining notoriety, not just ideological motives. In a lot of cases like this you really have to know how the system works and know the law in order to get any support. Some people working in the system don't even know what the options are themselves sometimes. I think the Southport killer had family that raised concerns too.

He will likely never be released I would think anyway. They would never have people like that on the streets ASD or not. I think there is more than ASD at play here and some comorbid personality disorder.

My biggest bug bear was watching this and then them saying he did it for notoriety. By making a programme about him you have sort of given him that and will just spur on similar people.

The sort of Web content he was viewing needs to be closed down too, or at least understand the impact of algorithms giving you more of the same for hours and hours. There is very little responsibility taken by these sites, but they are complicit in this.

Overall, so many gaps in policy and the law with gun purchasing, social care and online radicalisation. It's just very sad.

I agree. I noticed he showed no emotion when they said he was charged with the murder of his sister, just corrected their pronunciation. He did seem to experience some emotion when they said he was charged with killing his mother and brother though. Not a normal, strong emotion, but something.
I think he thought he was defending Clementine against his sister and claimed it wasn't murder when arrested

My biggest bug bear was watching this and then them saying he did it for notoriety. By making a programme about him you have sort of given him that and will just spur on similar people.

This did cross my mind and I’m not sure broadcasting it was very responsible with that in mind? I read somewhere about how we shouldn’t talk about shooting perpetrators by their names to avoid this potential idolation of people who have done such things. I think this was the case for the NZ church shooter.

Certainly when he was sentenced, on the Bedfordshire Police Facebook page, they wouldn't refer to him by name, saying they wanted the focus to be on his mother and siblings. So the police tried to do their bit to deny him any notoriety.

I don't know how the programming works. Do the production company just hang around with the police force, waiting to see if something happens that would make an interesting topic for a programme? There didn't seem to be much shown of a film crew accompanying officers, which there has been in the past, but mainly footage taken from body worn cameras (apart from when he was speaking to camera in his cell). Or do the police force contact the production company and suggest they could be interested in an incident that's happened?

I also wondered if he had the opportunity to watch the programme in prison? I don't know if prisoners have free choice of television watching, or if it's censored in some way.

I totally missed this but how did he come
to own a gun?

Presumably, he wasnt involved with Prevent. If the airing this programme inspires just one person to refer their loved one for help then it’s a success

although the family didnt want this aired, they must surely look back and see where failings have happened and perhaps an intervention may have saved these people’s lives

He bought one from someone and faked a gun licence to show the guy that he had one. That was a major part of the second episode. The guy who sold it felt awful but did nothing wrong.

Richard Osman spoke about this on his podcast. They do just film lots of cases to begin with. Most go nowhere but some obviously are much more interesting than others and have a good conclusion so they get featured.
Some get tied up within a year like this one, others are followed for years before there is a conclusion. That’s why they don’t do series, they just release them when they have a conclusion on a case they’ve been following.

He bought a shot gun in a car park

fake licence - the seller thought it looked genuine

the law needs to be tightened up here. Did the gun seller not think that Nicholas was a bit strange?

Fuck me! This isnt America

i didnt know barely legal adults could buy guns in car parks

He had a fake gun license.
Part of the reason the police wanted the programme aired was because they want the law changed so that guns can’t be handed over until after the gun license of the recipient has been verified.

That was exactly what I thought.

"Sorry mate. I've only gone and left the gun at home, haven't I. What a wally. I'll come back tomorrow."

Money makes people make difference decisions though.

The judges notes give so much more detail on the case. He'd tried to obtain a gun but failed the first time hence he got a fake licence made. Where there's a will there's a way.

Prevent only works with people who have a recognised ideology - they don't take referrals for young men who are weird and obsessed with violence. Same as three bit who stabbed all the little girls in Southport, he'd been referred multiple times but turned down because he had no political/religious ideology.

Perhaps we need to bring back asylums for people like this - i.e. those fixated on violence.

Regarding the gun it said in the report attached that he offered much more than the man was selling the gun for and had also gone prepared to kill him to get it.

I felt quite uncomfortable watching part I, to the extent that I don't think I'll watch more.

Nicholas' autistic presentation was exactly like DS's in physical bearing, tone, manner of interacting. The minute I saw the footage of him walking pre-arrest it was apparent. It made me quite emotional. We were quite struck by how many comments there were initially to him being 'odd' as to me I immediately saw him as autistic and not odd at all. But obviously autism is not the reason he has committed these awful crimes. I read the sentencing remarks with interest, which tried to unpick how his ASD might have interacted with everything else going on, including the thankful issue that his planning for the school shooting was too rigid to flex to meet a new timetable, which must have saved many lives.

I'd say DS's autism, while obvious to us (and we knew what we were looking for) from a young age, was not diagnosed on two occasions - 5 and 11 - when we tried to get this done through CAMHS. His presentation became more and more pronounced during his teens and by the time we tried again when he was 15 it was an instant diagnosis. I assume something similar here; signs that were too subtle to be picked up by casual observance - and enough academic compliance that there seemed to no reason to look into it - but that became very apparent as he got older, so from the outside he may have looked NT for a long time.