Two men arrested in Cyprus after the death of Dartford's George Low have reportedly admitted to killing him two weeks ago in Ayia Napa.

Mehmet Akpinar, 22, and Salih Ahmet, 43, were captured in Kyrenia — a city on the north coast of the country — last Friday evening, almost a week after the 22-year-old estate agent was fatally stabbed in Ayia Napa.

The Cyprus Mail reports that they appeared in court yesterday where they were remanded not in connection with the murder, but for their alleged illegal violation of a military area.

Phileleftheros, the largest circulating newspaper in Cyprus, reported today that Akpinar and Salih admitted to the attack but said in court they had "only intended to injure and scare Low, not kill him".

George, 22, of Ladywood Road, attended Axton Chase School – now Longfield Academy – and played football growing up for Longfield Tigers.

He and his friend Ben Barker were walking along Grigori Afxentiou Street at around 3.20am on the night of the killing on August 14.

Witnesses say they saw two men armed with knives stab the victims and then flee in different directions.

Low suffered a fatal blow to his neck, which severed his carotid artery. Barker was stabbed four times in the back, but survived.

The court ruled that the men would be held for three months pending their hearing, a date for which has yet to be set.

The case against the 48-year-old Greek Cypriot woman suspected of assisting the two men in the aftermath of the killing is set to appear before the Famagusta District Court on September 1.

Although initial reports described Akpinar and Ahmet as being Turkish Cypriot, the authorities in the north say they are Turkish and Bulgarian respectively.

Cyprus police said earlier this week that a written request had been submitted to the UN on crime and criminal matters for the handing over of two men wanted for the murder.

Officers in the south investigating George’s murder have asked for the suspects to be handed over to them, but their northern counterparts are reportedly “not cooperating with the case”.

Northern Cyprus has been inhabited by Turkish Cypriots since Turkey invaded the country in 1974, dividing the island in two. The northern third of the island is inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and the southern two-thirds by Greek Cypriots.

The Cyprus Mail reports that local deputy police chief George Economou has indicated that the north has not handed any criminal over to the south for years.

Koulla Anastasiou, a 49-year-old Greek Cypriot woman from Larnaca, told officers her boyfriend had confided to her that he and Ahmet had stabbed George and his friend Ben Barker, 22, following an altercation.

She said the argument was triggered when the men rebuked the Britons for urinating in public.

But other eyewitnesses say the attack was "completely random".

Tributes to estate agent George - who worked at Acorn Estate Agents in Bromley - have poured in.

More than £15,000 has also been raised in his memory since the attack, which took place on what was set to be the pair's last night of a week-long holiday on the Mediterranean island.

His his father Martyn said "he could not wish for a better son" and the family, including his two brothers and two sisters said they were devastated.

They flew out to Cyprus last Tuesday in a bid to have George repatriated and are still in the country.