A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murders of French students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, Scotland Yard said.

The friends, both 23, were bound, gagged and stabbed to death in a bedsit in New Cross, south London on Sunday night. The Metropolitan Police said the man was arrested at 3.40am and is in custody at a police station in south-east London.

The two friends were living in the capital while they worked on a three-month research project at Imperial College London.

Family and friends paid tribute to them. The father of Mr Ferez described his son as "incredibly gifted".

Olivier Ferez, a nurse, told the Daily Mail: "We are just in shock and completely devastated. Gabriel was, the most intelligent, affectionate, wonderful son anyone could ever want. He had such a bright future and now that has gone."

The director of the French university attended by Mr Bonomo and Mr Ferez spoke of the "brilliant professional future" the murdered men have been denied.

Claude-Gilles Dussap, head of the Polytech Clermont-Ferrand in central France, also said that a silent procession would be held on campus to commemorate the murdered men.

In a statement, Mr Dussap said: "Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez were carrying out an assignment at Imperial College London in the Department of Life Sciences.

"Like all the staff and students at the school, I was deeply shocked to learn of their death on the evening of June 29 in particularly tragic circumstances. Our thoughts first and foremost go to their families and those close to them. The entire Clermontaise university community associates itself with their immense pain.

"Laurent and Gabriel were particularly known for their commitment in the life of our school and beyond the normal structures that govern student life. They were promised a brilliant professional future. A silent procession will be held on Monday, July 7 at 1800 starting at Polytech Clermont-Ferrand."