LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Two British men were convicted Thursday of torturing and killing two French students in London last June , London 's Metropolitan Police said . Gabriel Ferez ( left ) and Laurent Bonomo were graduate biochemistry students at London 's Imperial College . Nigel Farmer , 34 , and Daniel `` Dano '' Sonnex , 23 , were also found guilty of arson , false imprisonment and burglary . The bodies of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez , both 23 , were found in Bonomo 's burned apartment in southeast London last summer . Ferez 's mother , Francoise Villemont , told the judge that her son 's killing was `` indescribable and inexcusable . '' `` No human being deserves such a death , '' she said . `` My life stopped on the 29th June 2008 . I feel battered and bruised as a mother forever scarred . '' The lead detective in the case , Mick Duthie , said at the time that the two had fallen victim to a `` frenzied , brutal , horrific attack . '' During a five-week trial , the jury heard details of how the two students were tied up for hours , tortured for their credit-card personal identification numbers and repeatedly stabbed in an early morning attack June 29 , 2008 . Farmer went back to the apartment that night and set fire to it in an attempt to destroy the evidence , police said . Emergency services were called to the address after neighbors heard an explosion and saw flames leaping from the premises . Investigators initially believed the French men died in the fire , but an autopsy showed each had been stabbed dozens of times in the head , neck and torso -- 196 times , in Bonomo 's case and 47 times for Ferez . Police believe they were bound during the assault and an accelerant was used to start the fire after they were killed . Hand-held Sony portable games , mobile phones and credit cards were missing , police said . Bonomo 's card was used to withdraw £360 ( about $ 580 ) in seven transactions . A bank machine seized Ferez 's card when someone tried to use it . Farmer turned himself in to police in the early hours of July 7 , 2008 , `` demanding to be seen and claiming to have committed a double murder . After hospital treatment , he was questioned for three days but chose to say nothing to police , '' Duthie said . Police appealed to the public for tips , prompting someone to name Sonnex as someone `` with a propensity to use violence and whose family lived very close by , '' the police said in a statement . Farmer and Sonnex were arrested in July . Bonomo 's father , Guy Bonomo , said he is `` tormented '' by images of his son 's suffering . `` Not only have you taken Laurent 's life , you 've taken my heart and soul , '' he told Farmer and Sonnex . `` I wish from the bottom of my heart that you will stay in prison for the rest of your lives . I ca n't bear to think that someone so evil will walk the streets again , that my daughter or a member of my family could encounter you again . '' In court , each blamed the other for killing the two men , police said . `` Throughout the case , neither has had the decency or courage to admit any part in the fatal assault on the two students with both men telling different stories and ultimately blaming each other , '' Duthie said . `` I 'm sad to say that we have not yet heard what did happen that early morning . '' The two men are due to be sentenced later Wednesday . The victims were biochemistry graduate students on a three-month course at Imperial College , London , studying genetic developments . They were planning to return to France in July .
Daniel Sonnex , Nigel Farmer convicted of killing Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez . Also found guilty of arson , false imprisonment and burglary . Bodies found in burned-out London flat last July after `` frenzied , brutal attack '' Investigators initially believed the two French students died in a fire .