TWO “mentally unstable thugs” killed two French students out of revenge, the Old Bailey heard today (May 21).

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

Sonnex, who prosecution counsel Crispin Aylett claims carries a knife “habitually”, changed his evidence during the trial, admitting that he tied up Mr Ferez.

The defendant claims he then made two separate trips from the bedsit to a cash machine to withdraw money on the students' bank cards.

He says when he returned on the second occasion the men were already dead.

Sonnex was asked whether he had any anxiety about leaving Farmer, who he described as “off his nut” on drugs, alone with the two students.

He replied: “He knew who he was. He knew what was going on, my friend. He knew what he had to do.”

Sonnex withdrew £360 using Mr Bonomo's card, something Mr Aylett described as “a good haul”.

The defendant replied: “I was happy, yes, I was over the moon.”

Sonnex said he then returned to the bedsit and was handed another card by Farmer though the kitchen window.

He was asked why the pair had not left the students alone after the first successful trip to a cash machine.

Sonnex replied: “I didn't think like that at the time. As I said, I was high on drugs and what-not and the more money the merrier.”

On his second trip to a cash machine Sonnex was caught on CCTV in Clifton Rise wearing Mr Ferez's glasses to disguise himself and appearing to wave at the camera.

Mr Aylett said Sonnex was “cocky” at this point.

Sonnex replied: “That doesn't make sense Mr Aylett does it? I'm not a fool.”

Mr Ferez's card was swallowed after three unsuccessful attempts by Sonnex to use it.

Mr Aylett said this had made the defendant angry.

He said: “That's when this gets competely out of hand, isn't that right?

“Was Gabriel killed first because he was the one who you thought had given the wrong PIN number?”

Sonnex replied: “I did not kill anybody.”

In his original defence statements, Sonnex had claimed he tried to help the two students when he returned after the second cashpoint trip, attempting to undo the ties on their hands.

He now admits this did not happen.

Mr Aylett told him: “You'll say anything about those two dead boys if it gets you off the hook.”

Sonnex replied: “No, not at all, that's not correct.”

He added: “No one has proved me to be a liar at all in this box. I've not lied, I've told the truth.”

After the murders, the two men split the money, with Farmer taking £300 and Sonnex selling on two PSPs and three phones taken from the flat.

Mr Aylett told Sonnex: “All that mattered to you was to get as much money out of this as you possibly could.”

He asked the defendant why the two men had to die.

Mr Aylett said: “The answer to that Mr Sonnex is a truly pathetic one – that two mentally unstable thugs, high on drink and drugs, killed two boys out of revenge.”

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.