Detectives in Tenerife are facing a barrage of questions amid reports that a terrified British woman had begged for help just minutes before she was beheaded on the holiday island.
Grandmother-of-five Jennifer Mills-Westley sought refuge at an employment centre in Los Cristianos on Thursday morning where she told social services officials she was being trailed.
A man was reportedly sent away from the area by a security guard before the tearful 60-year-old left the building. She was later decapitated in a nearby supermarket.
A police source working on the murder inquiry told The Sunday Times Ms Mills-Westley had waited in the office until the man following her had disappeared. She then walked into the Chinese-owned shop nearby and he went after her.
"He grabbed a large kitchen knife from the shelf and stabbed her at least 14 times in the neck without saying a word," the source said. "Eventually he managed to sever her head. He picked it up and ran out of the shop."
A 28-year-old homeless Bulgarian man with a police record was arrested after he allegedly fled the Valdes shopping centre. The suspect, named in reports as Deyan Valentinov, allegedly made off along Avenida Juan Carlos saying: "God is on earth."
It is thought he had previously received psychiatric treatment. Regional newspaper La Opinion reported he had been released from a local hospital in February after being involved in violent incidents.
Ms Mills-Westley's family are struggling to come to terms with her brutal murder. "Mum retired a number of years ago and was fully enjoying her retirement travelling between Tenerife and France where she spent time visiting her daughter and grandchildren, and her other daughter in Norfolk," her daughter Sarah said.
"She was full of life, generous of heart, would do anything for anyone. We now have to find a way of living without her love and light and we would ask at this difficult time for some privacy as we try to come to terms with our loss."
Her ex-husband Peter told The Mail on Sunday she was a "wonderful woman, a brilliant mother and I loved her dearly".
