Woman beheaded by ‘paranoid schizophrenic’

The daughter of a woman beheaded in a Spanish supermarket wept as a coroner described how she was unable to defend herself against the “abhorrent” attack.

Retired road safety worker Jennifer Mills-Westley, 60, from Norwich, was shopping in a Chinese-owned supermarket in the resort of Los Cristianos on May 13, 2011 when she was attacked.

A Spanish jury later ruled that Deyan Deyanov was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the murder, and he was sentenced to 20 years in a secure psychiatric unit in Seville.

Yesterday her daughter Sarah Mills-Westley attended an inquest at Norfolk Coroner’s Court, Norwich, with other family members.

Coroner Jacqueline Lake read out excerpts of the jury’s verdict, saying Ms Mills-Westley had been rendered defenceless by the brutality of the attack.

She added: “Mr Deyanov picked up a ham slicing knife from a shelf. He attacked her from behind, stabbing her repeatedly in the neck until her head was completely severed. He then picked up her severed head and walked outside. Her capacity to react and defend herself or even runaway was completely impaired by the defendant.”

The coroner returned a narrative conclusion that Ms Mills-Westley died after an attack by a person she did not know from which she could not defend herself.

The family declined to comment.