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Robbers 'tortured French students for bank details'
Justin Davenport and Peter Allen04.07.08
Detectives investigating the murder of two French students in London revealed today that several items including mobile phones had been stolen from their flat.
Police are following a "strong line of inquiry" that the killings were committed during a robbery at the bedsit in New Cross.
Among the items that police believe were stolen were the men's phones and two Sony PSP games consoles. Scotland Yard issued an urgent appeal to anyone who may have been offered these items for sale in the past few days to contact them.
The bodies of research students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were found in the flat in Sterling Gardens on Sunday night. They had been bound, gagged and stabbed to death. The killer firebombed the flat in an effort to destroy the evidence and their charred bodies were discovered in the wreckage by firemen.
A pathologist documented 243 separate injuries. Mr Bonomo had been stabbed 196 times with 80 of the wounds inflicted after his death.
Detectives also suspect a link between the murders and a burglary at the address six days earlier. They are said to be acting on a tip-off to the murder team within the past 24 hours.
During the earlier burglary a black Packard Bell laptop was stolen but the intruder was disturbed by Mr Bonomo who had been in the shower. Forensic science experts have found no evidence of forced entry and one possibility is that stolen keys may have been used.
Police are hunting a white man seen running from the flat moments before the firebombing but they have not ruled out the possibility of a second killer.
Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie, leading the inquiry, said the injuries were the worst he had ever seen. He said it was a "frenzied, horrible, horrific attack".
It is believed the two Frenchmen may have been tortured for several hours after being surprised by an intruder as they played a computer game. Mr Ferez, who lived in South Norwood, had travelled to spend the evening at his friend's flat. One possibility is that they were repeatedly stabbed in an effort to force them to reveal bank details or Pins.
Card number torture is a crime increasingly seen by police.
In a case bearing a chilling similarity to the New Cross murders, Oxford academic Dr Barbara Johnson was stabbed 49 times, beaten and strangled in her home in 2006. Many of her injuries were not life-threatening and police believe they were inflicted to make her reveal her numbers.
Police said Mr Bonomo and Mr Ferez were "entirely innocent", with no criminal background.
In France detectives from Paris's Quai D'Orsay, the headquarters of the city's criminal brigade, have begun contacting anyone who may have been in touch with the students in the days leading up to their murder. A police spokesman in Paris said today: "We have been involved in the investigation with our English colleagues from day one.
"Our first job was to contact immediate family of the victims to inform them of this terrible tragedy, and to ensure they were able to get to London. Since then we have been liaising with police on other aspects of the investigation."
Relatives of the victims, including Mr Bonomo's mother and his fiancée, student Mary Bertez, were in London today and were expected to talk to detectives. The families are in the care of the French consul-general.
Miss Bertez is believed to have been the last person to talk to Mr Bonomo before he was held by his killer or killers. She called him at 1am on Sunday.
In a moving tribute on his Facebook social networking profile she wrote: "My love, we were always together but unfortunately I wasn't there that evening.
"I will never stop thinking about you for a second. I had 10 months of a happiness I had never experienced until then.
"Today you are gone. I will try to be as good as you always wanted. I will give all the required information to the investigation, my dear, so you can be avenged."
In New Cross, a neighbour of Mr Bonomo said that her flat had been targeted by knife-wielding burglars two months ago. The 34-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, said two men tried to break in while she was in bed.
"They had a big knife which they left embedded in the window," she said. "I saw a silhouette through the blinds and they ran off as soon as I shouted."
The killings have sent shockwaves across France with headlines in newspapers about the dangers in London. The tabloid France Soir contained the warning: "Never go to the south of the River".
Quoting a French expat in London, the paper said areas like New Cross were difficult and that "it is preferable not to hang about there after dark".
Anyone with information should call the Incident Room on 020 8721 4155 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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Reader views (13)
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D. Hammond from Norwich. What on earth have Muslims got to do with this murder? Or is it fashionable now to have a bash at Muslims any time something negative happens in the country?
For your information, most crime committed in the UK is done so by people born and bred here, and mostly white. So please take your racist rant elsewhere.
- Khalid, London
What is upsetting most is why oh why has Imperial College not given adequate housing advice to these most unfortunate students? Every Londoner knows what it is like South of the River, let alone New Cross! They should have been warned!
- Dave, London
This murder is awful, they were stabbed 240 times?Ccan you believe this, how is that possible, I'd have never thought it's even human and what for? pins, credit card numbers? Oh god, my heart goes out to the families, they must devastated.
This murder mustn't remain unpunished and severely; It could have happened anywhere in the world; London, Paris or New York but a priori violence in crimes in London has raised recently, especially using knives ... The British police has to do something.
- Alex, Marseille-France
