TRIBUTES last night continued to pour in to the French students murdered in London after a 21-year-old man was arrested in connection with the killings.
Friends Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were bound, gagged and stabbed to death in a bedsit in New Cross, south London, last Sunday.
The Metropolitan Police said the man was arrested at 3.40 yesterday morning and is in custody at a poli
ce station in south-east London.
The pair were living in the capital while they worked on a three-month research project at Imperial College London.
Family and friends paid tribute to them. The father of Ferez described his son as "incredibly gifted".
Olivier Ferez, a nurse, said: "We are just in shock and completely devastated. Gabriel is, was, the most intelligent, affectionate, wonderful son anyone could ever want.
"He had such a bright future and now that has gone."
The director of the French university attended by Bonomo and Ferez spoke of the "brilliant professional future" the murdered men had been denied.
Claude-Gilles Dussap, head of the Polytech Clermont-Ferrand in central France, also said a silent procession would be held on campus to commemorate the murdered men.
In a statement, Dussap said: "Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez were carrying out an assignment at Imperial College London in the Department of Life Sciences.
"Like all the staff and students at the school, I was deeply shocked to learn of their death on the evening of June 29 in particularly tragic circumstances.
"Our thoughts first and foremost go to their families and those close to them. The entire Clermontaise university community associates itself with their immense pain.
"Laurent and Gabriel were particularly known for their commitment in the life of our school and beyond the normal structures that govern student life. They were promised a brilliant professional future. For them – especially for them and because they would have wanted it – the school will recover from this blow while keeping a luminous memory of them.
"A silent procession will be held on Monday July 7 at 1800 starting at Polytech Clermont-Ferrand."
According to French newspaper Le Parisien, Bonomo's best friend at school, called Aurelien, said: "You could always count on him."
Another friend, Erik, said: "He was really happy all the time. He was a party type, always open to other people."
Ferez's grandmother Rejane Ferez reportedly said her grandson – who she described as an "angel, great boy" – was finding life in London tough. "Both Gabriel and Laurent were greatly looking forward to getting back home," she said.
The bio-chemistry students were in the second year of a three-year master's degree.
Bonomo, from Velaux, near Marseille, and Ferez, from Prouzel, near Amiens, had been selected to take part in a three-month research project and were due to return home later this month.
Police last night said the men might have died for the sake of two handheld games consoles.
Detectives said two Sony PSP consoles, costing £130 each, were stolen from Bonomo's rented flat in Sterling Gardens, in New Cross in south London.
Officers are also hunting a black Packard Bell laptop taken in the previous burglary while Bonomo was in the shower.
Ferez, who lived in South Norwood, had travelled to spend the evening at his friend's flat, where they were playing computer games.
A university spokesman said Bonomo was studying a parasite which can spread from cats to human foetuses.
Ferez's research was into bacteria which create ethanol for use as fuel.
Det Chief Insp Mick Duthie, leading the investigation, said: "The more we find out about them (the victims] the more we find they were good, honest, hard-working young men; very intelligent, never caused anybody any problems, they were well liked and come from respectable families. This is just a tragedy."
A pathologist documented 243 separate injuries to the badly burned bodies, with Bonomo suffering 80 wounds after he died. It is believed the Frenchmen were dead before the fire started.
Neighbours dialled 999 after an explosion blew the windows out and ignited a fierce blaze shortly after 10pm. They called out to find out if anybody was in the flat but nobody responded.
Bonomo's fiancée, Mary Bertez, has vowed to help avenge his death.
She wrote on a social networking site: "I will never stop thinking about you for a second. I had 10 months of a happiness I had never experienced until then.
"I will give all the required information to the investigation, my dear, so you can be avenged."
Officers have said they were following up on about 25 calls which have been received in relation to the murders.
Friends of Bonomo – who was known as "Lolo" – left emotional messages on his Facebook page expressing their grief at their loss. One friend, Laurent Maxence, wrote on the website: "From where you are with Gabriel, we are thinking of you and I hope that the stars are watching over you. Condolences to Laurent's family and fiancée."
In the town of Prouzel in northern France where Ferez grew up, locals were saddened by the news. The head teacher of his school, Guy Le Blanche, said: "He shone at maths, physics and chemistry. He was a good boy. This was more than a murder... it was horrific.. madness."
The full article contains 895 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
