THE mother of a man accused of murdering two French students broke down in tears as she gave evidence today (May 8).

NIgel Farmer, accused of murdering Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez at a flat in Sterling Gardens, New Cross, on June 29 last year, stared at the floor as his mother gave evidence to the Old Bailey.

The mother, who cannot be named, said Farmer had become depressed after moving out of the home he shared with his partner and twin sons, now aged eight.

She said her son had twice tried to kill himself by slashing his arms and wrists, and she had taken him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, and then to the Oxleas Foundation Trust.

The mother told the court: "He was depressed, he needed help, he needed counseling."

But after checking in on May 25, Farmer signed himself out four days later.

In her police statement, the mother said she was concerned that if Farmer did not get help "he was going to do something to himself or somebody else."

But she told the court she had meant her son was depressed and she was worried about him harassing the ex-partner.

She said: "If I thought he was going to do something to somebody I wouldn't have taken him to hospital, I'd have taken him to the police station."

The mother explained that he was too depressed to work and would often phone her in tears.

On the evening of June 30, Farmer met up with his mother at the TJ's shop in Church Street, Woolwich, where she gave him £40.

Farmer has admitted burning down the Sterling Gardens flat the night before, but says he did so under pressure from Dano Sonnex, also accused of the murders.

Noticing his burns, his mother asked him what had happened, and he said he had an accident with cooking oil.

She said: "To me he looked badly burned - there were big red, raw patches."

The pair met up the following weekend and his mother mentioned that police had been examining a cash machine outside TJ's in connection with the students' murders.

And the following day they talked about how the students' murders again.

Farmer's mother was asked by Farmer's defence counsel John Ryder about her son's work as a painter and decorator and how his life had gone downhill after the separation.

Mr Ryder said: "When he separated from them he became desperately depressed. So much so that he lost all interest in life."

She replied: "He didn't want to be alive anymore."

The court heard that Farmer, who has a previous conviction for a robbery committed when he was 20, had been drinking heavily and taking drugs at the time of the murders.

And she had told police: "He had a terrible temper and I know that when he gets angry, he can get violent and really lose the plot."

But Farmer's mother told the court she had never seen her son angry in that way.

She told the court: "It's very difficult to sit here today because I let myself get emotionally involved in this case."

The mother said in the weeks before the murders, Farmer had talked about moving to Sheerness and wanted to get away from the New Cross area.

And she said she had been reluctant to see him at that time because she was "scared of who'd come with him."

She said he was hanging around with "bad people".

Farmer, aged 33, of no fixed address, and Sonnex, aged 23, of Etta Street, Deptford, deny murder, arson and false imprisonment.

Sonnex admits burglary but Farmer denies the charge.

The trial continues.