Burglary link to murder of 2 French students

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie said two Sony game consoles are missing from the apartment where Laurent Bonomo and his friend Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were bound and stabbed to death Sunday night.

Metropolitan Police say they believe the game consoles were taken during the killing and may be tied to the theft of a laptop computer from Bonomo's apartment six days before the attack.

"Laurent Bonomo said he was in the shower when he heard a suspicious noise. He found the window of his living room was forced open and his laptop was stolen," said Duthie.

"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."

Police said they are following up about 25 calls received in relation to the murders of the two men, who were doing a three month bio-chemistry placement at Imperial College in London.

Their bodies were discovered when neighbors called police to report an explosion at Bonomo's apartment. Investigators believe the attacker poured a fire accelerant on their bodies, which were then set alight in an attempt to destroy the evidence.

London has been gripped in recent weeks by a series of stabbing cases involving young people. But the case of the French students is unique because the pair are foreigners and because of the pointless brutality of the crime.

Duthie 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. "