My guess - is that he wasn't prepared for the bustling personality of urban London. Perhaps there was some prejudice as well?

Meanwhile, the arrested man has been released.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/domest...55738320080706
Police release man held over French student murders
Sun Jul 6, 2008 3:20pm BST

French students murdered in London

Parents of murdered French student appeal to killer

LONDON (Reuters) - Police released without charge on Sunday a 21-year-old man arrested in connection with the murder of two French students who were killed a week ago in a frenzied knife attack in a south London apartment which was then set ablaze.

"He has been released with no further action," a police spokesman said.

Bio-engineering students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were bound, gagged and stabbed over 200 times in Bonomo's apartment in what police said was one of the most "frenzied, brutal and horrific" murders they had seen.

(Reporting by Jeremy Lovell)

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...W85GYLnlXFu_zg

Family vow to pursue French students' killer

10 hours ago

LONDON (AFP) — The parents of one of two French students savagely killed in London vowed to pursue their attacker Sunday, as police stepped up their search one week on.

"Rest assured that we will not leave you in peace," Gabriel Ferez's parents Francoise and Olivier said in a message to the killer or killers, who bound the two students and repeatedly stabbed them to death.

A week on from the murders of 23-year-olds Ferez and Laurent Bonomo in south-east London, police have yet to announce a motive for the crime, the time of death or whether the attack was the work of one culprit.

Officers stopped pedestrians and drivers Sunday night in the cul-de-sac in New Cross where the bodies of the brilliant academics were found in a burnt-out flat a week ago.

Bonomo is thought to have been stabbed nearly 200 times while Ferez suffered around 50 wounds in a prolonged ordeal. Their bodies were found bound up.

Speaking at the scene, Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie, who is leading the investigation, told reporters that officers are still not sure exactly when the friends -- both biochemists studying in London on an exchange -- died.

"Laurent spoke to his fiancee around 1am (0000 GMT) on the Sunday morning," he said.

"After that, no one heard from Laurent or Gabriel or saw them. It is important to stress that the attack could have taken place at any time during Sunday.

"We believe that anyone involved in this scene would have been bloodstained when they left the area."

The bodies were found late last Sunday night after emergency services were called to a fire and explosion.

Earlier, police released "with no further action" a 21-year-old man arrested in the street early Saturday.

They issued an e-fit of a man they said was seen running away from the scene described him as "white, between 30 and 40 years old, of slight or slim build and wearing a light-coloured baseball cap and a dark top, blue jeans and white trainers".

Duthie appealed for anyone who knew the man in the e-fit or who saw anything unusual near the scene that night to come forward.

Earlier Sunday, Ferez's parents told the killer in a statement: "You will not be able to live in hiding forever. You may be scared and feel like a coward, but you must recognise this terrible mistake you made.

"Rest assured that we will not leave you in peace."

One theory is that the deaths were linked to a burglary at the flat, rented by Bonomo, on June 23 in which a laptop was taken.

Police believe two Sony PSP games consoles have since gone too and the victims' bank cards are missing. They are in touch with French banks to see if the cards had been used since the attack.

....