A university lecturer has been killed by her ex-lover who held her hostage for two days for cutting her throat and dowsing her in petrol before setting her on fire using a gas torch.

The horrific incident took place in the district of Maltepe in the Turkish city of Istanbul on 29th December.

The victim Aylin Sozer, who was working as a lecturer at Istanbul Aydin University, was reported as missing by her brothers who could not get in touch with her.

When the police came to her home, they noticed there was a blaze, so firefighters were also called to the scene.

The police who entered the property found the victim’s ex-lover Kemal Ayyildiz in the property and the charred body of Sozer was lying on the floor nearby.

According to local media, when the police tried to enter, he attacked them and sprayed flammable liquid on them.

The suspect was eventually detained and one police officer suffered minor injuries to his hand during the incident.

The police said that a container of flammable liquid and a gold necklace belonging to the victim were found during a body search of the arrested man.

Ayyildiz reportedly asked for a loan from Sozer when he visited the day previously and was turned down. He had then refused to leave the flat and kept her prisoner trying to force her to give him a loan before finally murdering her by cutting her throat and then setting her on fire.

Ayyildiz then took Sozer’s phone and attempted to transfer TRY 260,000 (GBP 25,964) to his brother after the murder, but the bank found the transaction suspicious and cancelled it.

He confessed that he had cut the woman’s throat with a 7.8-inch bread knife before setting the body and flat where she lived on fire.

During the crime scene investigation, it was determined that the suspect who had three grams of methamphetamine with him, set the body on fire with a gas torch he used to heat the drugs and poured different flammable substances on the body.

The investigation continues.