A British woman has been beheaded in front of horrified tourists in a supermarket on the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife, allegedly by a man who claimed he was a 'Prophet of God'.
The woman, who was described as being in her 60s, was in a shop in the town of Arona, about 10 miles from the popular beach resort of Los Christianos, when she was stabbed and then decapitated.
According to witnesses, the attacker, who is thought to be a homeless man of Bulgarian origin, entered the store, grabbed a knife and launched a frenzied and unprovoked assault.
The attacker, who apparently had a history of violent behaviour, then decapitated her before leaving the store carrying her head. Today Spanish newspapers said police had arrested a 28-year-old man named locally as "Deyan Valentinov D", declining to give his full surname.
It was also claimed that he had spent time in a psychiatric hospital and thought he was a "Prophet of God". Local news website site CanariasalDia.com quoted the local mayor, José Reverón, as saying that the man, who lived in a semi-derelict house, had shouted: "God is on Earth".
Mr Reverón added that the attacker was known to local police for his often threatening behaviour in the street, and had once knocked a man's teeth out, raising questions as to why he had not been kept him under closer supervision.
Holidaymakers and locals on the Spanish island described their complete shock and horror after witnessing the scene, which took place at around 10.30am local time (9.30am GMT) on Friday.
British journalist Colin Kirby, 50, who lives in Tenerife, was walking past the store when he saw the attacker emerging.
He said he saw the man walking away carrying what he thought was a joke head and only realised the true horror of what he was witnessing when members of the public and security officers apprehended the man.
Mr Kirby said: “It looked like he was carrying a prop from the Clash of the Titans but then I realised it wasn’t a joke.
“He went to walk across the road and then some security spotted him and managed to grapple him to the ground. They had to fight off some of the locals who were trying to get to him.”
Christina Perez, a legal representative at a nearby court, said a group of lawyers witnessed the man sprinting out of the store, carrying the head.
“They saw the man running out of the supermarket with the head in his hands.
"A security man from the complex ran after him and jumped on to him so he fell, and then he threw the head on to the road," she said.
Ms Perez, 38, added that her frightened colleagues darted indoors for safety.
“They were shocked. Some of them ran to the office and locked themselves in,” she said.
“Everybody is shocked. It's a very safe area. You can usually go anywhere you want in the day or at night. This is really not normal.”
Another witness described seeing the attacker drop the woman’s head to the pavement before he was detained by security officers and police.
The woman said: “I saw a man running out with someone in his hands and a security guard chasing him. He threw it to the ground, it almost hit me, and what he had been carrying was a woman’s head.”
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