Both admitted to assaulting 54-year-old Tommy Johansson when they visited his home in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The former students met the teacher outside a pizzeria in Hofors in eastern Sweden earlier on Saturday evening before following him to his apartment.

A neighbour was awakened at 3am by a thud.

“The thumping continued for about 15 minutes, but I couldn’t localise where it was coming from,” the neighbour told the Expressen newspaper.

The two suspects have been in police custody since Monday as investigators attempted to piece together what happened after they two met up with Johansson.

According to the newspaper, Johansson was one of the woman’s favourite teachers and had reportedly done much to support her during high school.

Jan-Erik Lagerström, the principal of the school where Johansson taught, told Expressen he was “adored” and a “very nice person” who supported both students and fellow teachers.

However, the woman’s close relationship with the teacher reportedly upset her male accomplice.

“My assessment is that they did this together,” prosecutor Krister Frykman told Expressen ahead of the remand hearing.

In court on Thursday, the woman admitting to kicking Johansson, while the male suspect, who has a long criminal past, confessed to severely beating the teacher.

Both suspects, however, deny committing murder and the possible motive for the crime remains unclear.

Nevertheless, the district court in Gävle ordered the pair remanded in custody on suspicion of murder.