Do student murders reveal London risks?

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By Paula Dear BBC News website

The men were taking part in a short summer research programme

The brutal murders of two French students in south London have shocked fellow students and the wider public alike.

How will the killings affect how overseas students and their families perceive the capital, and the UK, as a place to study and live?

So far no evidence has emerged to suggest Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, who were stabbed repeatedly before their house was set alight, were targeted for a specific reason.

But the director of the French university the men attended before coming on a short research placement at Imperial College, has said the families of other exchange students were expressing concerns.

Claude-Gilles Dussap said they had received some phone calls from worried parents. With my knowledge of African parents, more and more will be reluctant to send their children here Tadala MuharaMalawi student in Exeter

"Of course the students (have) explained to their parents that there is no problem for them. But some of their families are worrying a bit of course, that's quite normal," he told the BBC.

While international students may be no more at risk from rare violent acts such as this, they can be more vulnerable to the shock and after-effects of such an event, says Dominic Scott of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA).

"They may feel more vulnerable because they are far away from family and friends," he says.

"This is a hideous and appalling one-off that will strike terror among those around the world.

"But it could have happened in Beijing, Moscow or Washington."

UKCISA's members are international student advisors in universities and colleges who, among other things, help students with issues such as safety.Mr Bonomo and Mr Ferez were to return to France this month

The murdered men had not been in touch with the accommodation office at Imperial before they moved to London, said the university.

Mr Scott said the murders would "strike a blow" to those working to make the UK a safe place for people to study and live, but he added that British Council surveys had shown students perceived the country as safe.

"We have a lot of people doing work on safety and security for students, but you couldn't plan for something like this. When you do get things like this or the London bombings you realise the effect it has and the strain on parents overseas."

Some 400,000 students come to the UK each year for 12 months or more, and about the same again coming for short-term courses. There are hideous murders everywhere, just because they were students does not make students more vulnerable Andreas Tovan, Goldsmiths, New Cross

One is Vanessa, a French part-time student in Cardiff who did not want to give her surname.

She is so upset by the murders she says she "can't think clearly" and doesn't know if she will return to classes.

"I feel like I am at risk. I feel so upset, when I saw it on the news my stomach was churning," adds Vanessa, who says she would never consider moving to London because she would feel unsafe.

Meanwhile, an entry in French newspaper Liberation's FrenchinLondon blog on Friday says while lots of French people in the UK capital feel "uneasy" there is no talk of "Francophobia or of an attack on the community".

Tadala Muhara, from Malawi, wrote to the BBC website to say he is glad he chose to study in Exeter rather than London.

"It actually made me think whether coming to England for university was a good idea with weekly stabbings going on in London now.

"I just hope the government starts to take these issues seriously because with my knowledge of African parents, more and more will be reluctant to send their children here."

'Not usual'

But at the University of London's Goldsmiths campus in New Cross there are no obvious signs of its students feeling particularly at risk, despite it being located in the same part of London as the murders.

"There are hideous murders everywhere, just because they were students does not make students more vulnerable," says Andreas Tovan, who came from Norway to study at Goldsmiths five years ago, before going on to work for the students' union.

He says New Cross, and London in general, are perceived to be safe provided everyone sticks to the normal rules of living in a large city.

"The general rules apply everywhere. We give advice on how to behave, such as not walking around flashing your iPod. But I think you are equally susceptible to crime if you come from Devon or from France," he adds.

"The evidence is that this is not having an effect on our students so far," adds Goldsmiths' registrar and secretary Hugh Jones, who says none have contacted them about the incident.

Some 13% of their 8,000 students are from overseas, a large proportion of whom are thought to live in the borough, he says.

"What happened was a horrible thing. Anyone would realise this was not a usual thing for any part of the world."