Life Terms For French Student Murderers

Two men have been jailed for life for murdering two French students who were tied up and tortured before being stabbed over 200 times.

Their flat was also set on fire and their bodies were later discovered following an explosion.

Dano Sonnex, 23, of Peckham, south London, and Nigel Farmer, 34, of no fixed address stabbed Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, both 23, 244 times during an attack in New Cross in June 2008. They both denied murder.

Sonnex must serve a minimum of 40 years and Farmer must stay in prison for a minimum of 35 years.

Justice Secretary has today apologised to the families of the victims after a series of mistakes by the Crown Prosecution Service, the Metropolitan Police and the probation service, which saw Sonnex released from jail.

He should have been in prison at the time of the killings, but had been freed following an administrative error.

Mr Straw said: "The direct responsibility for these killings must lie - as the jury found - with the criminals Sonnex and Farmer.

"But it is also the case that Sonnex could and should have been in custody at the time he committed these murders.

"It was the consequence of very serious failures across the criminal justice system that he had not been arrested and incarcerated some weeks before."

After sentencing, Guy Bonomo, Laurent's father said: "We have not seen the trial of two human beings, they are animals.

"We were hoping for a more severe sentence - they should never be let out."

Lydie Bonomo added her son would still be alive if the mistakes had not been made.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission found, following an inquiry, that there was "confusion, misrepresentation and poor communication" between officers, and this resulted in a "serious delay in the execution of an arrest warrant".

Even when the error was spotted it was 16 days before police came round to take Sonnex into custody on June 29 last year - but they were too late, as by this stage the French students had been killed in a scene of "almost unimaginable horror".

As a result a sergeant in the Met has been given a formal warning.

The Old Bailey heard Sonnex had been jailed for a previous knife attack but was allowed out on licence and went straight back to his life of crime.

The two students had been woken up in the middle of the night and tied up after Sonnex and Farmer climbed through an open window. They had been dressed only in their underpants.

The accused stole games consoles, mobile phones and bank cards, which they used to withdraw £360.

The court heard the pair, fuelled by drink and drugs, egged one another on to carry out an "inhuman" attack of "brutal and sustained ferocity".

Mr Bonomo - who Farmer later said "just wouldn't die" - was knifed 194 times, while Mr Ferez suffered 50 knife wounds. Some of these were after his death.

The attack was described by prosecutors as an "orgy of bloodletting".

Hours later Farmer torched the bedsit.

Firefighters discovered the victims bound at the ankles and wrists and their heads wrapped in towels.

Sonnex and Farmer were also convicted of charges of false imprisonment and burglary.

(JM/BMcC)