Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were killed in an apparently motiveless attack in a south London flat.  The senior detective in charge of the investigation said that police have never seen such a "gruesome" double murder and said that all officers involved in the case have been "deeply shocked by what we have seen".  Police are at a loss to explain why the pair, who were experts in DNA and were described as "two of the brightest students of their generation", were targeted.  The men were playing a computer game earlier in the evening on Sunday at a flat in New Cross when they were attacked.  Both men were bound. Mr Bonomo, who was renting the flat, was stabbed 196 times, including almost 100 times in the back after he was already dead.  Mr Ferez received 47 separate injuries and "bore the brunt of the fire", according to sources.  They were both stabbed in the head, the torso, the back and the neck. They received other, horrific, undisclosed injuries as well.  It is believed the attacker poured petrol or another accelerant over the bodies of the two men and around the flat, then set it on fire - possibly to destroy forensic evidence.  However Det Chf Insp Mick Duthie said he did not believe that this was a "professional" hit.  "It was frenzied, brutal and horrific," he said.  He said that breaking the news and the "gruesome details" of the deaths to the students' French parents was "the hardest thing I have ever done in policing".  The pair have only been in Britain, studying at Imperial College, London, since May, and were due to return to their homes in north and south France later this month.  On line of inquiry that detectives believe may be significant is that their flat in New Cross was broken into six days before and a laptop was stolen. It is also possible that they were victims of mistaken identity.
Two French students visiting London were tortured, stabbed 243 times and then set on fire in one of the most