Two French exchange students found dead after a fire in south-east London were the victims of a ”frenzied, horrible and horrific attack” having been bound and stabbed repeatedly in the head, neck and torso before the house was set alight.

Laurent Bonomo, of Velaux, and Gabriel Ferez, of Prouzel, both 23, were found lying in the living area of the ground-floor bedsit. Bonomo had been stabbed 196 times with up to 100 injuries inflicted after he was already dead, police said. Ferez had 47 wounds.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie, of the Metropolitan police, today described their injuries as the worst he had seen in his policing career. “These were two young French students who were visitors to our country and had been in London for only a matter of weeks. They were talented students working on a dream project.

“The level of violence used on these two victims was excessive - it was horrendous. The extent of the injuries are horrific. Everyone working on this case, including myself, has been deeply shocked by what we have seen. I have never seen injuries like this throughout my career.”

–The Guardian

It could only be New Cross!

It’s events such as this that make me realise just how distinct living in London was compared to the relative utopia that I’m stuck in for the summer. The Barnetby Bugle reports of broken windows and irresponsibly driven motorbikes. CRIME WAVE. This is entirely fucked up and you’ve gotta feel for the poor sods’ families. The reaction smacks of when Magda Pniewska was unwittingly shot within a week of us all moving in, again half a mile away from the security of Fred and Francis - you are exposed to this sort of crime on a regular basis in south London. It’s only when it lands on your doorstep that it hits you. Well, your adopted doorstep two hundred miles away.

Speaking of which, I’m still without a place to live come September - if you have a garden where I could camp then give me a bell via Facebook or semaphore. Like I’d be deterred by a pesky horrific turn of events - and that’s how we should all feel. In the meantime, be sure to check out the amusingly embarrasing podcast that I recorded with my friend; there are more to come - the next one will be more of a mix than a radio show but just as entertaining. If you like chiptune.

roman david

Here we go. If you had the misfortune to listen to any of my shows on Wired (Goldsmiths’ radio station of sorts), then you’ll know that I’m more suited with a keyboard than with my own voice. Nevertheless, thanks to a few hours of GarageBand tomfoolery and several cans of Nisa Today’s finest (for £5.50) I present the first of hopefully a series of copyright-breaching, banter-filled monstrosities that totally hasn’t been inspired by certain other blogs HONESTLY. Seriously, there’s about six tracks/bands here that featured on the excellent Soft Skeleton podcast, which is inevitably better in at least seven ways, not least introducing me to Brainbombs and the malaise that sets in when you listen to them for more than ten minutes.

With me is my friend Marcus; if you know me you’ll know him as Manchester or someone who talks about fighting quite a bit. And there you have it: two hours of lovely stuff seperated by embarrasing chatter.Material you might find rather offensive alongside material you may consider not offensive enough. Oh, and I had a cold so I’m more unintelligible than ever.

• Click here to download via Megaupload (approx 124MB)

Hate mail please. Also, if you want a playlist with links to find most of these tracks, click here.

roman david

(more…)