AMIENS, August 20, 2008 (AFP) - One of the two French students murdered in a frenzied knife attack in London in June was due to be buried in the northern French city of Amiens later Wednesday, his mother said.

'We didn't want our son to depart anonymously but we don't want the press to attend the ceremony,' Francoise Villmont, the mother of 23-year-old Gabriel Ferez, told AFP.

Ferez was from the village of Prouzel near Amiens.

The second student, Laurent Bonomo, was cremated Monday near his home village of Velaux in the southern Provence region.

The biochemistry students, both 23 and on an exchange from their university in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, were found June 29 in Bonomo's south London apartment bound, repeatedly stabbed in the head, neck, torso and back and their bodies burnt.

They had been due to return home in July.

Their deaths shocked hardened detectives and coincided with growing concerns about knife and gang culture in the British capital.

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

Two men -- 33-year-old Nigel Farmer and 23-year-old Daniel Sonnex -- have been charged in connection with the murders of the French students.

Both men have been charged with the pair's murder and perverting the course of justice, while Farmer also stands accused of arson.

Their trials are set to start on October 16 and 20, respectively.