Police linking break-in six days earlier to horrific double murder

Tragic students may have died for games consoles

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THE victims of a sadistic double murder might have died for the sake of two hand-held games consoles, police said yesterday.

French students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were bound, gagged and stabbed to death in a bedsit in south London on Sunday night.

Detectives, who believe the pair may have been the victims of a savage robbery, said two Sony PSP consoles, costing £130 each, were stolen from Mr Bonomo’s rented flat.

They fear a set of keys, which were stolen six days earlier, enabled the attacker to surprise his victims.

Officers are also hunting a black Packard Bell laptop taken in the previous burglary while Mr Bonomo was in the shower.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie, leading the investigation, said: “We still have no clear idea of what has happened and why this has happened to these two men.

“However, with property being stolen this now suggests that the burglary which happened six days prior may well be linked to the murder.”

He said they were still trying to establish whether the victims’ bank cards were also stolen.

DCI Duthie said a white man seen running from the address moments after it exploded in flames has not been identified.

A pathologist documented 243 separate injuries to the badly-burned bodies, with Mr Bonomo suffering 80 wounds after he died. It is believed the Frenchmen were dead before the fire started.