THE family of killer Dano Sonnex played a major role during his trial for murder.

Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, both 23, were tied up and stabbed a total of 244 times in Sterling Gardens, New Cross, on June 29 last year.

Sonnex, aged 23, of Etta Street, Deptford, and Nigel Farmer, aged 34, of no fixed address, have been convicted of murdering the students.

Members of the Sonnex family sat in the public gallery at the Old Bailey every day and on one occasion were warned by Judge John Saunders not to talk to witnesses.

One witness had complained he had been approached on his way to give evidence.

Sonnex told the court his family did not trust police after his father was allegedly beaten up around 15 years ago when officers searched the family home in Etta Street, Deptford, for guns and drugs.

The court heard Sonnex's father Bernard has appeared in court 26 times, charged with 47 offences, including some relating to guns and drugs, leading to six prison sentences.

And sister Louise Sonnex is currently in prison, having been convicted of causing GBH with intent after attacking an ex-girlfriend of her father with a golf club.

She has a previous conviction for wounding with intent, having glassed a woman who claimed she had been raped by older brother Bernie Sonnex.

Bernie was also in prison during the trial and several witnesses, along with Nigel Farmer, spoke about their fear of him.

One witness told the court he was giving evidence "in fear of my own life and my family's life."

And Farmer made various claims about Bernie Sonnex, saying he had threatened to blow his legs off in a dispute over some keys, and that he had seen him smash a radio over a friend's head.

Farmer claimed Bernie had talked about once having shot a DJ five times with a gas gun at the White Hart pub, New Cross, because he would not play a Bob Marley record.

And Farmer claimed Bernie, who has been in prison 10 times, had bragged about having killed three people and getting away with each one.

The court also heard that Bernie allegedly made threatening calls to landlord Ted Bandelow while in custody in connection with a robbery at The Royal Archer pub in Egmont Street, New Cross, last year.

Farmer claimed that after the French students were killed Sonnex's father started a bonfire in the back garden of the family home to burn clothing worn during the crime.

He also claimed to have been threatened by both the father and Bernie, forcing him to set fire to the Sterling Gardens bedsit where the students were murdered.

Bernie Sonnex, referred to by his brother during the trial as a “ranking officer”, allegedly told Farmer: “You've seen how much blood Dano had on him this morning.

“If you don't do what you're told, tomorrow morning that could be your kids' blood all over him.”

When Dano Sonnex was arrested for the murders, he was found hiding in the loft of his grandparents' house in Peckham.

Even George Sonnex, a young cousin who the family has fostered, was alleged by Farmer to have gone out to sell the dead students' PSPs after the murders.