SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands, May 16 (UPI) -- A man authorities say beheaded a British grandmother in a supermarket in the Canary Islands is being held in a psychiatric unit.
Jennifer Mills-Westley, 60, of Norwich, England, was stabbed up to 14 times Friday on the Spanish island of Tenerife before her head was cut off by her assailant, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Authorities took Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, 28, into custody and Spanish sources told the Telegraph he appeared before a legal team early Sunday before being taken to a psychiatric unit. Deyanov, who reportedly has a history of mental instability, is unlikely to receive another hearing for at least four years, the sources told the British newspaper.
British expatriates living in the neighborhood described Deyanov as a homeless Bulgarian who had become increasingly aggressive and had split up with his girlfriend recently.
One man said Deyanov had been shouting abusively at passers-by, including police officers, and had flicked lighted cigarettes at female tourists.
"Everyone had started to avoid him," the man said.
Before she was fatally attacked, Mills-Westley had tried to evade her tormentor by taking refuge in an office doorway and had alerted a security guard that she had been subjected to "threatening behavior" by a vagrant. A short time later, the grandmother of five walked to a supermarket next door where Deyanov assaulted her while proclaiming to be "a prophet of God," the Telegraph said.
