AN alleged killer of two French students comes from a family with 83 separate criminal offences against their name, the Old Bailey heard today.

Dano Sonnex and co-defendant Nigel Farmer are accused of killing Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez during a burglary in Sterling Gardens, New Cross, on June 29 last year.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett today revealed the full extent of the Sonnex family's criminal past.

Sonnex's father Bernard has appeared in court 26 times, charged with 47 offences, including some relating to guns and drugs, leading to six prison sentences.

Bernie Sonnex, Dano's older brother, has been charged with 34 offences on 21 separate occasions, leading to 10 prison sentences.

And Louise Sonnex, the defendant's sister, is currently in prison, having been convicted of causing GBH with intent.

She has a previous conviction for wounding with intent.

Sonnex, who previously denied tying up the students, now admits he did this but denies murdering them.

The defendant was asked if there was any more information he could offer now to give the students' parents, who have been at court throughout the trial, a “crumb of comfort”.

He replied: “No, not at all.”

Mr Aylett said: “What the parents want to know more than anything is why it was necessary for their sons to die.

“Can you help us with that?”

Sonnex replied: “No, I can't.”

The defendant was asked why he had not questioned Farmer about the murders but instead had said he did not want to speak about it.

Sonnex said: “Why did I want to speak about two dead bodies?”

The defendant said he and Farmer had carried out more than 10 burglaries around the area in the previous fortnight.

Before going to Sterling Gardens at around 5.40am on June 29 they had tried several other addresses including a house on Brocklehurst Street.

Sonnex said that while in Sterling Gardens Farmer had punched Mr Bonomo numerous times while pinning him down on a bed.

He showed the court by standing up and hitting one fist into the palm of his hand.

Sonnex said he and Farmer were high on ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis and alcohol.

He said Farmer was “out of his nut”.

Mr Aylett put it to him that the students had gone along with being tied up because they had been threatened with a knife.

But Sonnex said: “If someone's afraid they're not going to scream for help anyway. You don't need a weapon to make someone afraid.”

Mr Aylett said the students would only have expected to be left bound and probably gagged.

He said: “What they didn't reckon for were two people off their heads on a combination of drugs and drink, egging one another on with more horrific acts of violence.”

During his evidence Sonnex was asked whether he was in fact guilty of unlawful imprisonment, a charge he has pleaded not guilty to.

Mr Aylett said: “Do you accept you're guilty of that charge?”

Sonnex replied: “Yes, I do now.”

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.