Paranoid schizophrenic Karl Addo admits decapitating flatmate Sergio Retamar Marquez with meat cleaver in frenzied violent attack

Neighbour heard sound of laughter as brutal attack on Sergio Marquez was taking place

Sergio Marquez, 23, whose paranoid schizophrenic flatmate killed him and cut off his head in a frenzied attack after suffering from delusions (PA)

A severely mentally ill man in the grip of a paranoid episode beheaded his flatmate in a frenzied attack with a meat cleaver, a court has heard.

Karl Addo, 30, denied murder but pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Spanish student Sergio Retamar Marquez, 23, in Bournemouth last year.

Mr Addo, who had been suffering from paranoid delusions that he was being persecuted by gangs and injected with drugs, killed Mr Marquez in what was described by prosecutors as a "prolonged, horrific and very violent attack" which left the Spaniard "terribly mutilated".

The court head that Mr Addo had snapped on the day he had been told to leave the flat he shared with Mr Marquez.

Flatmates told police that Addo had been acting strangely in the run-up to the events of July 2012. They said Addo had stolen food from them and had used book pages as toilet paper. He had not paid his rent and had been told to leave by the landlord, the court heard.

The court heard that Mr Addo had absconded from the Huntley Mental Health Centre in London, where he was voluntarily receiving treatment, the day before a panel of professionals decided he should be sectioned.

He had then "disappeared" from mental health services before moving to Bournemouth in May. He killed Mr Marquez, a hotel waiter, on July 17 last year - nine months later.

Mr Addo had been involved in an incident which saw him being ejected from a terminal at Heathrow Airport. He was also questioned by police at Marylebone station in London where he had been sleeping rough, prosecutor Nigel Pascoe QC, said.

The headless and disembowelled body of Mr Marquez was discovered by flatmates who ran screaming from the house where they were supposed to be celebrating the birthday of one of their number.

Police officers arrested Addo nearby covered in blood, the court was told. He had fled the flat when the others had returned.

Mr Marquez had tried to defend himself from the attack but was cornered in a room. A neighbour heard some of the attack and Mr Marquez saying "please Karl, please Karl", furniture being dragged around and then Addo laugh, Mr Pascoe said.

He was decapitated and disembowelled after he died, the court was told.

Mr Addo, of no fixed abode, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter through diminished responsibility. He is currently being treated at Broadmoor, the court was told.

The family of Mr Marquez wept in court as they heard the details of their loved one's death.

In statement after the hearing, his mother Maria Carmen Marquez Torres, said: "Sergio's life was cut short, a boy that only wanted to work, learn, help others, enjoy the life that God gave him and make everybody that knew him happy.

"He had such a beautiful life. He wanted to be a father and have three children, and the thought of this filled him with excitement.

"Sergio had everything, he was handsome, happy, kind, healthy, responsible, fun, and polite. He is a person that is impossible to replace."

Additional reporting by the Press Association