A retired British grandmother who was stabbed and beheaded in a Spanish shop sought refuge in an office moments before she was killed, saying she had been threatened by a homeless man.
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Jennifer Mills-Westley, 60, a grandmother of five, was attacked on Friday morning local time in a discount store in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.
Ms Mills-Westley hid in the doorway of an employment office and told a security guard she had been threatened, and waited for the man to walk by, London's The Telegraph reported.
She then went to the discount shop next door, where she was stabbed up to 14 times and beheaded in front of screaming onlookers.
Witness Colin Kirby said he thought someone had just fainted and he continued walking.
"Then I heard screaming and looked behind and saw a scruffy, unkempt man in his mid 20s holding a head by the hair," Mr Kirby said.
"It had blood on it and I thought at first it was a sick joke stunt.
"The man was muttering and shouting and more people started screaming as I quickened my pace."
Homeless Bulgarian man Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 28, was detained after the attack and taken to a psychiatric unit.
He had been let out of the unit in February, where he was believed to have been treated for paranoid schizophrenia.
Locals said Deyanov had recently become aggressive after breaking up with his girlfriend, abusing people and flicking lit cigarettes at women.
It was unclear why he decided to attack Ms Mills-Westley.
"Apparently this gentleman without any motive or any reason ... entered the shop and then cut this woman's neck and took the head in his hand outside up to the sidewalk," local councillor Manuel Reveron said.
Ms Mills-Westley had retired to the Spanish island after working as a road safety officer in Norwich, where she taught schoolchildren how to cycle safely.
Her daughter, Sarah Mears, 41, from Newton St Faith, near Norwich, released a statement saying her mother filled her retirement with travel between Tenerife and France.
"She was full of life, generous of heart, would do anything for anyone.
"We now have to find a way of living without her love and light."
One of Ms Mills-Westley's neighbours remembered her as bright and bubbly.
"This is just awful.
"It's too upsetting for words. I've known Jenny for more than 10 years, since she first moved out here.
"She was a lovely, bubbly person who appeared much younger than she was."
She said it was shocking Deyanov had recently been let out of hospital.
"It shouldn't have to be that you wait for something like this to happen before he gets locked away.
"He was obviously a danger."
smh.com.au
