Canarias
British woman decapitated in Arona supermarket on Tenerife
By h.b. - May 15, 2011 - 2:38 PM
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The body of the victim being removed from the scene - EFE
The man chose his victim by chance according to the local Mayor
A man known to be a local vagrant has walked into a shop in a commercial centre in Los Cristianos, Tenerife and decapitated a British customer aged 60. It appears the man entered the Chinese supermarket and chose his victim by chance.
The Mayor of Arona, José Alberto González Reverón, said the closed circuit recording of the shop showed that the man did not speak at all to his victim, and after picking up a large knife, stabbed her several times and then decapitated her.
The Councillor for Safety from Arona Town Hall, Manuel Reverón, has said that witnesses report that the man cut off the head of the British woman, and walked out of the shop at 1025am on Friday in Avenida Juan Carlos I, with her head in his hand.
The agressor was caught and held down by members of the public when he slipped and fell on the pavement outside. The head fell to the pavement and was quickly covered with a sheet. The public managed to hold him down until the police arrived and made an arrest.
National and local police rushed to the scene with two ambulances from the Canaries Emergency Services.
The man, a 28 year old named as Deyan Valentinov Deyanov. has been arrested and has found out to be Bulgarian. Reports indicate that he has been under psychiatric treatment, at the La Candelaria Hospital following previous violent episodes, and that he was allowed home after that treatment was considered to have been completed last February. He is known to have been living in a semi-abandoned property, and was known by locals for often shouting aloud that he was ‘God on earth’.
The British victim has been named as 60 year old Jennifer Mills-Westley, who was originally from Norwich. Her family have paid tribute to her and say they are devastated by her death. Her daughter Sarah said in a statement.
‘Mum retired a number of years ago and was fully enjoying her retirement travelling between Tenerife and France where she spent time visiting her daughter and grandchildren, and her other daughter in Norfolk.
‘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, and we would ask at the difficult time for some privacy as we try to come to terms with our loss’.
It now appears that she had reported the threatening behaviour of her attacker to a security guard just minutes before he set upon her. She told Social Services officials just before the attack that she was being followed, and then she stayed in the office until she thought the man had gone. She then went into the nearby Chinese supermarket, but her attacker was still outside and followed her in.
The wife of the owner of the Chinese supermarket has meanwhile been admitted to hospital for shock, being unable to sleep, eat or work since the attack. She witnessed the stabbing and the beheading of the British woman.
The victim's attacker was remanded in custody by a court on Sunday ‘on the suspicion of committing the crime of murder’. The decision comes amid growing unease as to how a man with a recent history of mental health problems and violence was allowed to be on the streets.