Beheading suspect had violent record

The man accused of stabbing and beheading a British pensioner in Tenerife has been remanded in custody, amid questions about the management of his mental illness.

Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, a 28-year-old Bulgarian, was arrested at the scene in Los Cristianos after Friday's killing of Jennifer Mills-Westley, a grandmother of five from Norwich.

Deyanov had a reputation in the town of menacing behaviour, and had a long record of violence and psychiatric problems.

A local newspaper reported that his habit of proclaiming loudly that he was God on Earth had led to his nickname "the prophet".

Davide Balsamo, who was among a group of people who caught Deyanov as he ran down the street holding his victim's head, told the Canarias 7 newspaper that "everyone knew he was dangerous".

A neighbour, Bernardo Parra, said: "We used to hear him shouting in the street and he had been arrested more than once for attacking people."

Ms Mills-Westley is reported to have hidden in an employment centre on the morning of the attack, crying as she told social services staff that she was being followed.

A man was apparently led away from the area by a security guard soon afterwards.

Tenerife detectives are studying CCTV footage of the area as well as film from the supermarket's security cameras.