LONDON - THE parents of Gabriel Ferez, one of the French students stabbed to death in London, appealed on Sunday for the killer or killers to hand themselves in to police in a statement issued by Scotland Yard.

'To those who committed this crime against our son and his friend, we say it is possible you did not anticipate how this might turn out,' Francoise and Olivier Ferez said, after the death last week of their son and his friend Laurent Bonomo.

'We plead with you to turn yourselves in to the police. You will not be able to live in hiding forever. You may be scared and feel like a coward, but you must recognise this terrible mistake you made.

'Rest assured that we will not leave you in peace.'

Police in London were still questioning a 21-year-old man arrested on Saturday after the bodies of the two 23-year-olds were found in a burnt-out London flat.

The bound and battered bodies of Mr Ferez and Mr Bonomo, biochemists studying on an exchange programme in London from Clermont-Ferrand in central France, were found in the ground-floor flat in New Cross, south-east London, last Sunday.

Mr Bonomo had been stabbed nearly 200 times while Mr Ferez suffered around 50 wounds in a prolonged ordeal, unidentified police sources quoted by the domestic Press Association news agency said.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Duthie, leading the investigation, has said the pair were dead before the fire took hold, adding that they were knifed in the head, neck, torso and back.

Police have revealed that the flat had been burgled in the days leading up to the men's deaths, and a computer and bank cards were taken.

The statement from Mr Ferez's parents paid tribute to their son as an 'angel'.

'It is too late for Gabriel, an angel who is now a victim after giving us 23 years of love and who was always ready to help others around him. His friend Laurent was alike,' it said.

'We still have a long way to go on earth. Gabriel had a sister and a young brother who are now crying with their loss.'

The attack on their son may have been committed by 'someone or some people whose psychological state of mind was disturbed", the parents said.

They added that they respected the British 'reputation for fairness' and urged any witnesses to come forward, stressing: 'Do not feel useless or like an 'informer''.

The deaths coincided with growing concern about knife crime and gang culture in London, which newly-elected Conservative mayor Boris Johnson and Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair have vowed to tackle. -- AFP