French Students murdered in a vicious attack

[Miss Z]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7487126.stm

This story made me physically sick.

[Jessika]

That is absolutely horrifying. 243 stab wounds?!?!?! And burned.... ugh I am really starting to lose faith in humanity.............

[Laura's Babies]

Somebody was really mad to have done all that. That was a crime of extreem anger.. I feel so sorry for the parents having to identify those distroyed bodies.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

This country is starting to scare the pants off me

[Miss Z]

This country is starting to scare the pants off me

You just aren't safe anywhere, are you?

[Karen]

So very, very sad, rest in peace, gentlemen.

[Medusa]

That is absolutely horrifying. 243 stab wounds?!?!?! And burned.... ugh I am really starting to lose faith in humanity.............

I couldn't read it. After reading about how many stab wounds there were and they were burned, too, that's enough. I can't take it.

[Catty1]

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

British police arrest suspect for murder of French students

58 minutes ago

LONDON (AFP) — British police arrested a man on Saturday in connection with the murder of two French students found brutally stabbed to death in a burnt out London flat.

The 21-year-old suspect was arrested in the street at 3:40 am (0240 GMT) and was being held in custody at a police station in southeast London. He is the first suspect to be arrested in the investigation.

"Our appeals for witnesses and information after the double murder still apply and we continue to urge people who may be able to assist to come forward," London's Metropolitan Police added in a statement.

The bound and battered bodies of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were found in the ground-floor flat in New Cross, southeast London, last Sunday when emergency services were called to the fire.

Bonomo had been stabbed nearly 200 times while Ferez suffered around 50 wounds in a prolonged ordeal, unidentified police sources quoted by the domestic Press Association news agency said.

The detective leading the investigation has said the pair were dead before the fire took hold, adding that they were knifed in the head, neck, torso and back.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie called it a "frenzied, brutal and horrific attack".

Olivier Ferez, the father of one of the victims, said his family were "in shock and completely devastated".

"Gabriel is, was, the most intelligent, affectionate, wonderful son anyone could ever want," the nurse told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper, describing his son as "incredibly gifted".

"He studied at the best university in France and then the best in England. He had such a bright future and now that has gone."

Ferez, comforting his daughter Helene, 20, and his 12-year-old son at the family's home, added: "It is the worst nightmare for any parent."

Rejane Ferez, the victim's grandmother, said her grandson had been "finding life in London tough".

"Gabriel loved travelling and had recently spent time in Mexico, but nothing had prepared him for London," she said.

"As well as all the usual problems, life in London could also be very lonely. Both Gabriel and Laurent were greatly looking forward to getting back home."

The two students -- both biochemists from a university in Clermont-Ferrand, central France -- were on a short exchange programme at London's prestigious Imperial College.

They were due to return home at the end of July.

Students in Clermont-Ferrand were to hold a silent march through the city on Monday.

"The student world has lost two of its own in a horrible fashion. It's now that we have to join together to show that we never want to see anything like this again," one of the organisers said.

A forensic search of the scene was still going on at the rented 1980s flat, located in a leafy cul-de-sac.

Police revealed that the flat had been burgled in the days leading up to the men's deaths, and a computer was stolen.

The deaths coincided with growing concern about knife crime and gang culture in London, which newly-elected Conservative mayor Boris Johnson and Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair have vowed to tackle.

[jennielynn1970]

"Gabriel loved travelling and had recently spent time in Mexico, but nothing had prepared him for London," she said.

"As well as all the usual problems, life in London could also be very lonely. Both Gabriel and Laurent were greatly looking forward to getting back home."



What does she mean nothing prepared him for London? I've never been there, but I didn't think it was supposed to be so bad. Is it really that horrible there?

I can't even fathom someone stabbing someone 196 times. That is just so out of control and screams hatred. Someone definitely did not like them. I wonder what happened and who they met that would have done that.

[Catty1]

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.

....

[Miss Z]

What does she mean nothing prepared him for London? I've never been there, but I didn't think it was supposed to be so bad. Is it really that horrible there?

As with any city, the suburbs of London can be quite rough. In these areas there are still many dodgy council estates full of deprived people (London has been this way since Victorian times, when people were crammed into tiny, smoggy streets to work in the factories. The layout in these areas hasn't changed a great deal.) The city people think of as London is beautiful, nevertheless one should always exercise caution in any city. These two students were murdered in a London borough rather than London itself, as London is merely the city within the county of Greater London, which is often, rather confusingly to non-British people, referred to as London.

Still, it doesn't excuse the fact these murders were brutal and sick. I imagine with them being French, they probably would have met some prejudice as Catty1 said.