Police have been granted more time to question a 33-year-old man over the deaths of two French students.

Scotland Yard said a warrant of further detention was obtained by detectives investigating the double murder of Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo.

The warrant, granted at Greenwich Magistrates' Court, allows police to hold the suspect for a further 36 hours.

The 33-year-old walked into a south London police station on Monday and was arrested over the deaths.

He was kept under police guard in hospital while receiving treatment for burns and was questioned throughout the day.

The badly-burned bodies of the two 23-year-olds were found after an explosion at a rented bedsit in southeast London nine days ago.

Investigators found they had been bound, gagged and tortured before petrol or a similar inflammable liquid was splashed on and around their bodies.

Police said a strong smell of accelerant remained at the property hours after the blaze had been put out by firefighters.

Sources close to the investigation insisted that officers still believe more than one person could be involved in the prolonged attack.

Forensic searches at the severely-damaged ground-floor property in Sterling Gardens, New Cross, could continue for several weeks.

Officers are hunting a man seen fleeing the scene. He is white, aged 30 to 40 and slim. He was wearing a light-coloured baseball cap, dark top, blue jeans and white trainers.

Detectives also questioned a 21-year-old man, arrested on Saturday, over the murders. He was later released without charge.

Mr Bonomo was stabbed nearly 200 times, with up to 80 of the wounds inflicted after he was dead, while Mr Ferez suffered nearly 50 knife wounds.

Six days earlier, Mr Bonomo disturbed an intruder stealing a laptop computer.

Experts have found no evidence of forced entry after the murders, suggesting keys might also have been stolen.

Two Sony handheld games consoles were also taken and credit cards are believed to be missing.

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