NEW CROSS: Murder trial hears details of fire at French student's flat

Nigel Farmer admits starting the fire at the flat in Sterling Gardens, New Cross, on June 29 last year.

But Farmer says he only started the fire because he was scared of Dano Sonnex, accused with him of murdering 23-year-old French students Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo (pictured below) earlier that morning.

The two accused men allegedly tortured and killed the two students inside the flat before the fire was started.

Neighbour Curtis Cronin told the Old Bailey today (April 28) he ran to the window after hearing a large explosion and the sound of breaking glass at around 10pm.

He said a man was running away from the scene and flames were coming from Mr Bonomo's bay window.

Mr Cronin shouted at the man: “I've got you.”

He said: “He responded quite casually. 'Yeah, yeah' was his response.

“He didn't seem that bothered – he seemed rather blasé.”

Mr Cronin then began to fill buckets of water and went to tackle the ceiling-high flames himself before the fire brigade arrived.

He said: “I just threw as many buckets of water as I could into the flames.”

Another neighbour, Jeanette Crowe, also heard the explosion.

She said in a statement: “The level of noise sounded to me the equivalent of a motorway crash and the building shook.”

A fire crew from Deptford and New Cross were each called to put out the fire.

Depford's acting watch manager Dennis Martin told the court how, through the smoke, he could see someone lying on the flat floor near the bay window.

He said: “The person was naked.

“I noticed that his hands were tied in front of him and he had a sheet around his head.”

Mr Martin was then able to make out another body in the room.

While firefighters with breathing apparatus went inside, between 10 and 15 people had to be evacuated from the block in case of a second explosion.

Fire investigator Dave Cook told the court there were signs of the flat's kitchen window having been forced open.

He said the fire seemed to have been started using petrol or something similar and that the explosion would probably have caused burns to the person starting it.

Mr Cronin was able to provide police with a good enough description for them to release an e-fit of the wanted man.

The picture matched Farmer, who handed himself in to Lewisham police station after it was released.

Michael Frost, the boyfriend of another neighbour, had earlier told the court he had been woken up that morning by the sound of “glass being popped and smashing.”

He remembers a strong smell of petrol in the air when he left his girlfriend's flat at 11.30am.

The prosecution speculate that petrol may have been sprinkled by Sonnex and Farmer that morning and an iron left on in the flat in a failed attempt to start a fire.

Mr Bonomo was stabbed 194 times and Mr Ferez stabbed 50 times during a two-and-a-half hour ordeal.

Farmer, aged 33, of no fixed address, and Sonnex, aged 23, of Etta Street, Deptford, both deny murder, arson and false imprisonment.

Sonnex admits burglary but Farmer denies the charge.

The trial continues.