British woman beheaded in Tenerife supermarket

Updated




A British woman has been beheaded in a busy supermarket in the Spanish holiday resort of Los Cristianos.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing the killer run out of the store in Los Cristianos carrying the victim's head, before being tackled by security guards.

Officials have identified the woman as a 62-year-old British woman, and the suspect is believed to be a 28-year-old homeless Bulgarian man, who was released from hospital in February after receiving treatment for violent behaviour.

He was detained by security guards after he ran out of the supermarket in a shopping centre in the holiday resort after committing the horrific crime.

Security staff chased him and tackled him to the ground.

Manuel Reveron, a local councillor, told the Daily Telegraph: 'Apparently this gentleman without any motive or any reason, although for this there is no reasoning, entered the shop and then cut this woman's neck and took the head in his hand outside up to the sidewalk.'

Another government official, Dominica Fernandez, a government official, said the suspect had 'chosen his victim by chance'.

Originally it was reported the victim was a Chinese immigrant working at a mini-market in the Valdes shopping centre in the heart of Los Cristianos.

But it later emerged she was a British woman who had been shopping in the store.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed this, saying: 'We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Tenerife and are urgently investigating.'

The Press Association reports that a regional government spokeswoman said the killer was understood to have obtained a knife from inside the store to launch his attack.

Witness Colin Kirby, of Tenerifemagazine.com, said: 'There were people shouting. There was a Hispanic-looking guy walking behind me, looking very scruffy, muttering to himself, carrying what I thought was a joke head by the hair. The blood - it just made me think 'Clash Of The Titans'. I thought "The guy's a nutter, it's a joke".'

Mr Kirby said he had spoken to an English couple who were in the shop when the incident happened. 'They said this guy just walked in, pulled a big knife and started stabbing at her,' he said.

Christina Perez, a legal representative at a nearby court, said a group of lawyers witnessed the man sprinting out of the Chinese store, carrying the head.

She said: '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.'

Ms Perez, 38, added that her frightened colleagues darted indoors for safety. She said: 'They were shocked. Some of them ran to the office and locked themselves in. 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.'


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