AN attempt was made to break into the home of an Eastenders actress hours before two French students were killed, the Old Bailey heard today (May 12).

The incident was revealed just before Nigel Farmer, one of two men accused of the students' murder, gave evidence in court for the first time.

Farmer is accused, along with Dano Sonnex, of breaking into the flat of Laurent Bonomo in Sterling Gardens, New Cross.

It is alleged they tied up him and friend Gabriel Ferez, tortured and then killed them in the early hours of June 29.

Police were called to the New Cross home of actress Maureen Bass, who played the character Mo in Eastenders, at 4.49am that same morning.

The two defendants had been at a friend's house which backs on to the actress's property prior to the incident, and both men claim they heard the other one discussing a burglary.

A man trying to climb through a bedroom window of the house was disturbed by Ms Bass's friend Sue Blomfield after she heard a noise at around 4.30am.

In a statement read out in court Ms Blomfield said she asked him: "What are you doing?"

The man put a hand up to cover his face and asked: "Is this Mo's house?"

She replied: "No, it's my house."

He said: "I want her signature."

Ms Blomfield said: "He seemed to lose his balance after I banged on the window with both hands.

She said the man told her: "You've done my ankle, I'm coming back.'"

Ms Blomfield said the man was white and aged between 36 and 40.

Giving evidence for the first time, Farmer told the court that he had started having problems with drink and had smashed up property, including his ex-partner's kitchen, on several occasions.

The defendant described how his life went downhill after he split up with the mother of his twin sons on May 5 last year.

He said that he had met Dano Sonnex and his older brother Bernie in May through a mutual friend, Brendan Cummings, who used to supply Farmer with cocaine.

The defendant said on one occasion Bernie Sonnex threatened to "blow my legs off" in a dispute over some keys.

And Farmer said at the end of May, he saw Bernie Sonnex attack someone.

He said: "Out of the blue he just grabbed a portable radio and beat him round the head with it."

The defendant said Bernie then tried to punch another man and then "punched me down the stairs."

He added: "I was shocked at what happened."

Farmer says he then went home and snorted £50 worth of cocaine.

He told the court: "I've never felt so low in my life."

And he added: "My heart was racing so fast I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

Farmer went to get counseling at Oxleas Foundation Trust afterwards but checked himself out after four days.

The defendant has previously spent three years in prison for a knifepoint robbery committed with another man.

But he told the jury he had not been carrying a weapon and had just been in "the wrong place at the wrong time".

Farmer admits burning down the Sterling Gardens flat after the murders but said he did so under pressure from the Sonnex family.

Sonnex, aged 23, of Etta Street, Deptford, and Farmer, aged 34, of no fixed address, deny murder, arson and false imprisonment.

Farmer denies burglary but Sonnex admits the charge.

The trial continues.