An 18-year-old man who attacked and killed two teachers with an axe at a Swedish secondary school has been found guilty of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Fabian Vidar Cederholm, who was a student at the school in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, was arrested shortly after the incident on March 21.

The defendant was not previously known to authorities and had no criminal record.

Both victims — Victoria Edstrom and Sara Book — were found on the third floor of the city centre Malmo Latin School 10 minutes after police were alerted.

Malmo District Court followed the suggestion of prosecutor Johanna Liljeblad who had asked that Cederholm, who has confessed to the crime, be sentenced to life.

In Sweden, this generally means a minimum of 20 to 25 years in prison, but could be extended.

The court said Cederholm killed Ms Edstrom and Ms Book “by hacking them to death with an axe”.

Judge Johan Kvart said Cederholm had also used a knife.

The court said he was sentenced to life in prison because “the acts were particularly reckless”, and added that the motive for the violent behaviour had not been fully clarified.

“These are two very brutal murders where the victims suffered severely,” Mr Kvart said in a statement.

A lawyer for the defendant told Swedish media earlier that the defendant’s actions were “completely inexplicable”.

Students at the school, which has about 1,100 pupils, had gathered to work on a musical, with youngsters locking themselves inside classrooms as the attack began.