# Murdered by robbers: 'Genius' French students' mobile phones were stolen from London



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Police hunting for the killers of two French students have discovered their mobile phones had been stolen from the flat where they were bound up, tortured and killed.
Detectives are now following a 'strong line if inquiry' that Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were killed in a robbery that escalated into a horrific double-murder.
The two men, hailed as 'brilliant' students destined for stellar careers, were killed in a frenzy of barbaric violence at Mr Bonomo's flat in New Cross, south-east London.

Police have now discovered their phones and two Sony PSP games consoles were stolen from the ground-floor bedsit in the quiet cul-de-sac.
Scotland Yard have issued an urgent appeal to anyone who might have been offered the stolen goods for sale in the past few days to contact them.









Brutally murdered: Laurent Bonomo (left) and Gabriel Ferez were stabbed almost 250 times before their bodies were covered in an accelerant and set alight

Mr Bonomo and Mr Ferez, already marked out as the most gifted of their generation, were killed just eight weeks after arriving in Britain from their native France.
They were both tied to chairs, tortured and then stabbed almost 250 times in the head, chest and back before finally being set on fire.
A subsequent explosion - described as a 'gun crack' by neighbours - left a pair of charred, mutilated bodies that could only be identified from DNA.

The murder of the two bio-engineering students, who had been invited to Britain to take part in ground-breaking scientific research, has stunned hardened detectives.
It also sent shockwaves across France where the loss of two of the country's finest young minds was seen as proof of Britain's spiral into knife-obsessed lawlessness.
Police now believe the students, who were found on Sunday night, may simply have been the victims of a bungled burglary.

Six days before the murders, Mr Bonomo disturbed an intruder who stole a laptop as he took an early morning shower.
Police are examining the possibility that a drug-addicted burglar later returned and subjected the men to an unimaginable ordeal.

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Tragic: Mr Bonomo, 23, with his fiancee Mary Bertez. Ms Bertez, also a student, has said their time together was the happiest of her life

Details of the theft theory, which is the strongest lead in a case that has baffled seasoned detectives, emerged as the full horror of the killings was revealed.

One source said last night officers were still unsure if one or more killers were involved. But he added: 'We expect to make an arrest sooner rather than later.'
Mr Bonomo was stabbed 196 times, with up to 100 wounds inflicted on his back after death.
Mr Ferez, who lived several miles away in Thornton Heath, suffered 47 separate injuries.









Bound: Mr Ferez, 23, had been visiting his friend's flat when he was killed

Detectives are trying to establish whether Mr Bonomo was already being tortured when Mr Ferez turned up at his friend's flat.
They believe it is possible Mr Bonomo opened the door thinking his friend was there and was met by his attacker instead before the second student arrived later.
The theory would explain how the two fit, young men could have been overpowered.
Investigators have also not ruled out that there could be several attackers, because of the sheer number of injuries inflicted on both bodies.
Post-mortem examinations found they were both stabbed in the head, neck and chest. Sources said they had been bound and gagged before they were killed.
Police believe an accelerant was poured on or near their bodies, possibly to destroy evidence, and the flat set alight, causing a minor explosion.
Criminals are increasingly turning to arson to cover up their crimes due to the growing use of DNA evidence - what police call the 'CSI effect'.

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Manhunt: Forensic teams comb the flat and surrounding area for any clues about the killer. A white man was seen running from the flat after the explosion










One detective compared the killings to a Quentin Tarantino film. 
He said: 'The scale of the violence is extraordinary. This was like a scene from a Tarantino gangster film but these men were not criminals. These were two talented and innocent men who had no history of criminality.'
The victims are believed to have been playing computer games when they were attacked by one or more men in Sterling Gardens, a normally quiet road in New Cross.

There was no evidence of forced entry.








Disarray: Inside Mr Bonomo's flat is a scene of chaos

Detectives said Mr Bonomo and Mr Ferez were 'entirely innocent', with no criminal background in France or Britain. 
They added there was nothing 'immediately obvious' in their private lives which could explain why someone would want to cause them so much suffering. 
A visibly shocked Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie, the officer in charge of the inquiry, said: 'The extent of the injuries are horrific. I have never seen injuries like this throughout my career.' 
Mr Duthie said police were hunting a white man seen running from the flats shortly after the explosion. But they have not ruled out that others may have been involved.
He added: 'I would not say this was a professional attack. I would say it was a frenzied, horrible, horrific-attack. I imagine it would take some considerable amount of time to inflict the nature of the injuries.'

Last night a neighbour who lived above the murder scene told of the moment when he realised the flat below was burning.

Henry Chuks, 32, said: 'I was watching television with my wife when I heard two or three loud bangs at about 10pm, it sounded like someone had dropped something really heavy. 
'The whole building was shaking. It sounded like a big fridge had fallen down.' 
Mr Bonomo and Mr Ferez had won three-month internships at Imperial College, London, following glittering academic careers. 
Both were graduates of colleges linked to the cole Polytechnique, the state-run institution founded in 1794 which is viewed as the most prestigious engineering college in France. 
They were due to return home later this month.








Boarded up: Officers block off the windows of the ground-floor flat after they were blown out
Mr Bonomo - who was called 'Lolo' - was known to be alive in the early hours of Sunday morning because he spoke to his fiancee Mary Bertez in France.

Last night the 23-year-old French literature student left an internet tribute. 
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. I love you my darling from the depths of my heart.' 
She was said to be 'devastated beyond belief'. A friend said: 'Her world has fallen apart.' 
The families of the murdered students travelled to London to identify their sons but were too traumatised to talk. Police said they were returning home immediately. 
*Anyone with information should call the incident room on 020 8721 4155 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.*

*The possible motives *

*Theft:*
*A burglar broke in to the bedsit six days earlier and stole a laptop. Did he return and torture his pleading victims in a bid to obtain more valuable items? Sources described this as a key line of the inquiry.*
*Drugs:*
*The ferocity of the murders has prompted speculation that the killer or killers could have been on crack cocaine - which can cause paranoia and extreme violence. Or, for whatever reason, did the men fall out with a local drug dealer?*
*Mental illness:*
*The violence could be the work of a psychopath or person with an acute personality disorder. Police will check on seriously mentally ill individuals in the area.*
*Sex:*
*Although neither victim suffered sexual injuries, police cannot rule out completely the possibility of a sexual motive. Did the killer or killers get a sadistic pleasure from inflicting unimaginable pain? Was there a bizarre homosexual motive? *

*Revenge:*
*Strong feelings of revenge can sometimes prompt horrific acts of violence. But police see no obvious reason why the men would attract such hostile feelings. *

*Mistaken identity :*
*Were the men mistaken for other individuals who were the intended targets? *

*http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...arantino-style+raid+on+London+home/article.do*


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## Cond21 (Jun 4, 2008)

*Re: Murdered by robbers: 'Genius' French students' mobile phones were stolen from Lon*

The murder was probably over World of Warcraft


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