Brother of notorious torture killer is jailed for more than two years

Brother of notorious killer who tortured two French students to death in ‘orgy of bloodletting’ is jailed for more than two years after he burgled two homes in a day

• Bernard Sonnex has 30 previous convictions for 50 offences 
• His brother Dano Sonnex bound, gagged and tortured two students for hours

The brother of a notorious killer who tortured two French students to death in an ‘orgy of bloodletting’ was jailed for more than two years after he burgled two homes in a day.

Bernard Sonnex, 50, has 30 previous convictions for 50 offences of burglary and dishonesty between 1993 and 2019.

His brother Dano Sonnex, 37, is serving a 40-year prison sentence after stabbing Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez 244 times with his friend Nigel Farmer.

The two 23-year-olds were bound, gagged and tortured for several hours for their bank cards and PIN numbers in June 2008 in New Cross.

Bernard appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from HMP Thameside because he had suffered a fall in prison due to epilepsy.

Bernard Sonnex, 50,  who has 30 previous convictions for 50 offences of burglary and dishonesty, was jailed for more than two years after he burgled two homes in a day

Dano Sonnex, 37, bound, gagged and tortured two French students for several hours for their bank cards and PIN numbers- he is serving a 40-year jail sentence

He admitted to the burglaries of two properties in Devonshire Road, Forest Hill, southeast London on 20 August 2022.

Sonnex broke into the flat of Tom Renne at 6am by smashing open a locked gate at the side of the address and entering through a kitchen side door, stealing two mobile phones worth £900.

At 8am he climbed into a flat through an open window and victim Giancarlo Pepe was alerted by a camera he had installed. Nothing was stolen but he caused £3,500 of damage to a window and door.

Sonnex was identified through DNA by blood left in both of the flats, but he was not arrested until January, 2, 2023 when he was spoken to by police who were concerned about him in a car park.

Judge Alexia Durran said Bernard was a ‘habitual burglar’.

Bernard’s first burglary was in 2001 and he has seven convictions for burglaries of homes. He has been sentenced to four custodial sentences since 2017.

In 2013 he was jailed for 40 months after attempting to burgle a houseboat with a pregnant woman inside.

Richard Keogh, defending, said Bernard had been recovering from a drugs problem but had relapsed before the burglaries.

Bernard appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from HMP Thameside because he had suffered a fall in prison due to epilepsy

Killed: Laurent Bonomo (left) and Gabriel Ferez were tortured by Dano Sonnex in 2008 and bother of the students’ bodies were found in a ground-floor flat in New Cross

Wearing a grey jumper with ‘Firetrap’ written across the front, Bernard cried and held his head in his hands as his lawyer explained that his mother was ill and he feared he would not see her again if he remained in prison.

A tattooed filmmaker named ‘Duncan X’, who has made films about Bernard’s life, watched from the public gallery and wrote a statement in support of his friend.

He has 78,000 Instagram followers and was described as a ‘bonafide legend of London’s tattoo scene’ by Vice Media.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Pepe said he had had to invest in concertina grills for his doors and windows following the incident. He also plans to sell his flat and leave the area.

He said: ‘I had CCTV installed but obviously this was no deterrent and I fear being burgled again.

‘I’m a lot more conscious now in my home and check the doors and windows are locked before I leave and even before I go to bed.

‘I don’t hate you for what you have done, I don’t want any monetary compensation and I don’t have any wish for you to spend time in prison.

The brothers’ father, also called Bernard Sonnex, pictured, has 26 convictions recorded against him for 47 crimes, including gun and drug offences and he has served, six prison sentences

‘I would just like you to promise the judge you are truly sorry for what you have done and will stop breaking the law.’

Dano Sonnex had been released four months before the murders having served five years of an eight-year sentence for a stabbing and robbery and should have been behind bars for breaching his prison licence when the murders were committed.

Then Justice Secretary Jack Straw apologised for the failings in 2009.

Dano had also warned a prison doctor five years earlier he feared he ‘could kill’, but his chilling words never went further than his confidential medical file.

Dano and Ferez burst into Mr Bonomo’s bedsit flat in the early hours, trussed up the two victims and sadistically tortured them for almost three hours.

They demanded PIN numbers for their bank cards and flipped when an ATM machine swallowed Mr Ferez’s card, thwarting their attempt to empty his account.

The killers fled with just £360 in cash, a handful of mobile phones and two Sony PSP consoles to sell for drug money.

The brothers’ father, also called Bernard Sonnex, has 26 convictions recorded against him for 47 crimes, including gun and drug offences and he has served, six prison sentences.

Sister Louise Sonnex was jailed for five years on March, 30, 2008, for causing grievous bodily harm after she repeatedly hit another woman with a golf club.

In October 2005 she was given 18 months for wounding with intent for glassing a woman in a pub fight in New Cross after warning: ‘I am going to open her up like a tin of beans.’

Bernard Sonnex jnr, of Etta Street, Deptford, admitted two counts of burglary.

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