10/07/2008

French Student Murder Accused Remanded

A man charged with the 'horrific' murders of two young French students has appeared in court as two other suspects are still being questioned.

Nigel Farmer, 33, of no fixed abode, stands accused of killing Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, both 23, as well as arson, at a bedsit in Newcross.

Detectives are continuing to quiz a 35-year-old man and a woman aged 25 arrested on Wednesday over the murders after they were detained at an address in Streatham.

Mr Farmer appeared before Greenwich Magistrates' Court. He is also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Farmer has been remanded in custody until 16 October. He is due to appear at the Old Bailey on that date.

It is understood Mr Farmer handed himself in at Lewisham police station on Monday.

He was initially taken to hospital, under guard, for treatment to serious burns to his hands and arms.

Police say Mr Ferez and Mr Bonomo suffered up to 250 stab wounds to the head, neck and chest before their bodies were set alight at a ground floor flat in Sterling Gardens on 29 June.

Both victims were French bio-chemistry students who had been on an exchange scheme at Imperial College for about one month.

Mr Bonomo was from Velaux, near Amiens, and Mr Ferez from Prouzel, near Aiz-en-Provence.

Forensic searches at the burnt out property in Sterling Gardens could continue for several weeks.

Police say that the students may have been attacked by more than one assailant.

Mr Ferez's parents, Francoise and Oliver said in a statement to the person(s) responsible for the murders that "we will not leave you in peace" and that their son's killer would "not be able to live in hiding forever".

It is understood both students had been due to return to France at the end of July after working on the research project into chains of protein within DNA at Imperial College.

Students at the Polytech' Clermont-Ferrand held a silent procession in memory of their murdered peers on Monday.

See: Police Question Students' Murder Suspect

(DS)

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