A MAN who burnt down a flat in New Cross claims he did not know there were two murdered students inside when he started the fire.

Nigel Farmer and Dano Sonnex are accused of going “berserk” inside the flat of Laurent Bonomo, killing him and friend Garbiel Ferez.

Farmer denies taking part in the crime, which saw the students tied up and stabbed 244 times on the morning of June 29 last year.

However, he admits setting fire to the student's bedsit in Sterling Gardens, New Cross, later that day - but only because his children had been threatened by the Sonnex family.

Farmer told the Old Bailey today (May 15): “They had total control over me.”

The defendant claims the small flat was “pitch black” when he entered and he did not see the two dead bodies as he sprinkled petrol around.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett said: “You, Mr Farmer, must have had the hideous task of picking your way around those two dead bodies, going through that flat scattering petrol.”

Farmer replied: “I didn't come across any bodies.”

And he said: "I just did what I had to do in there and got out."

The defendant also told the court it did not cross his mind that other people might have been in the block.

Farmer said that as he ignited the petrol he was engulfed in a fireball, badly burning his hands and face.

Farmer said: “I was in pain. I was going into shock – I needed help.”

The defendant then returned to Etta Street, Deptford, where he was staying with Sonnex's family.

Sonnex's younger brother George burnt Farmer's clothes and he then took a cab to the home of Bernie Sonnex and girlfriend Fay Culyer in Streatham.

Miss Culyer claims Farmer told her about the stabbing that night, but he denies this.

The defendant admitted he had taken no steps to protect his family from the time of the fire until he handed himself in to Lewisham police station on July 7.

He was asked why he had not told his partner's sister Claire Wearon about the threats when he saw her that week.

Farmer replied: “I wanted to so much. I was standing in her kitchen crying. I couldn't find the words to tell her.”

After handing himself in, Farmer allegedly admitted taking part in the murders to two women in the police station waiting room, something he denies doing.

But Mr Aylett said: “You and Dano Sonnex broke into that flat together didn't you?

“You'd both been drinking and you'd both taken drugs.

“You were looking for easy pickings around a residential block in your part of town.”

Farmer said: “No, I've never committed burglary in my life.”

Mr Aylett went on: “But when those poor students woke up, you got greedy didn't you?

“And what you wanted was cash, hard cash, that could easily be turned into drugs.”

He said the defendants had tied the men up and then “turned on them” after Mr Ferez's cash card was swallowed by a machine.

Mr Aylett said: “The pair of you went simply berserk.”

Farmer replied: “That's not correct.”

Mr Aylett said: “Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez were subjected to unimaginable brutality.”

He went on: “You've lied and lied and lied to save your own skin haven't you?”

Farmer replied: “That's not true.”

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