COPS probing the murders of two students tied up, tortured and stabbed nearly 250 times told last night how the bedsit where they died was burgled six days earlier.

Pals Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both from France, died in a *lo**bath lasting several hours before the flat was set on fire.

Police suspect a robber broke in and went berserk.

And yesterday it emerged that the one-bed home, where 23-year-old Laurent lived, was broken into less than a week before.

Officers say there was no sign of forced entry before Sundays killings, meaning the culprit might also have stolen door keys if he was behind the earlier raid.

That time Laurent disturbed the intruder and the man fled cl**tching his laptop.

Murder cop DCI Mick Duthie asked: Was this a follow-up visit by a burglar?

Engaged Mary and Laurent

The flat was broken into some days before and whether it was broken into again is a line of inquiry we are following up.

Brilliant students Gabriel and Laurent nicknamed Lolo arrived in Britain in May and were on postgraduate projects at Londons Imperial College.

Gabriel, 23, is thought to have travelled to Laurents home in New Cross, South East London, at some point on Sunday.

Police said the pair played computer games and watched the Euro 2008 final in the evening before they were murdered.

They were gagged, then trussed up separately before being knifed a horrifying 243 times.

Laurent was stabbed 196 times 80 in the back.

Detectives said around 100 wounds were inflicted AFTER he was dead.

Gabriel, who had been staying with friends in Thornton Heath, South London, suffered around 50 injuries, including stab wounds.

The bedsit was then set ablaze to destroy forensic evidence.

Shocked police described the aftermath as like a scene from a Tarantino movie.

DCI Duthie said: It was a frenzied, horrific and brutal attack. Everybody working on this case was deeply shocked.

Ive never seen anything like it they were covered in stab wounds. The level of violence was horrendous. I imagine it took some considerable amount of time to inflict that number of injuries.

'My love' ... fiancee Mary had spoken
to Laurent on day of killing

The cause of death was multiple injuries to the head, neck and back. We need to urgently catch whoever has done this.

A senior source said: This was like a scene from a Tarantino gangster film. But these victims were not criminals.

These were two talented and innocent young men who had no history of criminality.

US director Quentin Tarantino is known for brutal scenes in hit movies such as 1992s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction in 1994.

Fire crews rushed to the bedsit after a massive explosion at 10pm.

It was only after the flames were extinguished that the bodies were discovered.

A white male was seen by a resident running from the house.

And yesterday a neighbour insisted the killings were related to the previous weeks burglary, when the raider climbed in through an open window.

Henry Chuks, 32, said: I know the flat had been burgled the previous week.

I spoke to the police officers after they left the scene. The tenant was in the shower and he disturbed the intruder. I think it has to be connected.

The students parents came to Britain on Wednesday and yesterday identified their sons bodies before flying home again.

Slaughtered ... Laurent Bonomo, left, found with 196 knife wounds, 80 in back, 100 after he had died, and Gabriel Ferez found with 50 injuries, bound, gagged and torched in pal's home

Laurent, of Velaux, Provence, in the South of France, was engaged to be married and had spoken to fiancee Mary Bertez in the early hours of Sunday.

Gabriel was from Prouzel, in the Somme region of northern France.

The pair met at the Ecole Polytechnique, regarded as the countrys most elite school of engineering. They attended a college in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, and studied biochemistry.

Both were scheduled to return home from London this month.

A spokesman for the college said the pair had walked through their exams with distinction. He added: They were brilliant students with glittering careers ahead of them.

Theres no doubt they were two of the brightest students of their generation. Everybody is absolutely devastated at whats happened.

Fiancee Mary, 23, left a tribute on Laurents Facebook website page, vowing to help cops avenge his violent death.

She wrote: My love, we were always together but unfortunately I wasnt there that evening.

I will never stop thinking about you for a second. I had ten months of a happiness I had never experienced until then.

I will give all the required information to the investigation, my dear, so you can be avenged.

University colleagues said Mary was devastated beyond belief.

Fellow student Antoine Galloux, 23, studied with the murdered pair in France and spoke to them last week. He sobbed: Id no idea London was such a barbaric city.

Gabriel was my best friend. We were extremely close. He was a diligent and hard-working student, and incredibly clever.

None of us can believe what happened to him and Laurent.

Another of Laurents neighbours told last night of a chilling late night incident weeks earlier when she found a huge KNIFE embedded in her bedroom window sill.

The woman, who gave her name only as Shannon, said: I was in bed at midnight when I saw two silhouettes at my window and heard some scratching noises. I shouted at them and they ran off. I pulled back the blinds and saw a 12-inch kitchen knife in the window sill.

Last Sunday when the boys were killed I heard a crack which sounded like a gunshot. I hid by my bed and didnt come out until the police evacuated the building.

Forensic scientist Dr David Holmes called the murders a unique case.

He said: Such barbarism goes beyond some of our worst serial killers. Whoever did it was sending out a message unless it was simply the work of a psychopath.