Tenerife Beheading: Court Shown CCTV Footage

The family of British woman who was decapitated in a supermarket in Tenerife have seen CCTV footage of the attack for the first time.

Jennifer Mills-Westley, 60, was stabbed and decapitated with a nine-inch carving knife in the popular resort of Los Cristianos on May 13, 2011.

Bulgarian Deyan Deyanov, who is homeless, has denied murder and told the court he is haunted by voices telling him how to act.

The defence has said he is suffering from "acute schizophrenia".

After watching the CCTV footage, Deyanov said it was "a montage, a film" and claimed he did not recognise himself in the images.

Ms Mills-Westley's daughters, Sarah Mears, 43, and Samantha Gomes, 39, were in court as the footage was shown. Mrs Gomes covered her mouth in horror.

Giving evidence, Mrs Mears explained that in the months before her death, her mother had become worried about safety on the island.

"It was nothing specific but she was increasingly concerned that Tenerife was not as safe as when we used to visit 30 years ago," she said.

Mrs Mears added: "All I want to see is justice done for my mum today."

Ms Mills-Westley, who is originally from Norwich, had been living in Tenerife after retiring from her job as a road safety officer with Norfolk County Council.

Deyanov is alleged to have walked into another shop before the attack to ask for a large knife.

The court was told that after killing Ms Mills-Westley, the 29-year-old was apparently heard saying "God is on earth" before he was captured by security guards as he ran out of the store holding her head.

The jury was shown two knives allegedly used in the attack. Both were 22cm long and one was visibly bent and bloodied.

Franciso Beltran, for the defence, told the jury his client was in "total disagreement" with the charge of murder against him.

"He has committed no crime, and it goes without saying that he has not committed the crime of murder," Mr Beltran said.

He asked the jury see his client as a "sick man" who had been living on the streets without a diagnosis or treatment for his acute schizophrenia.

Deyanov claimed the voices were telling him he was "an angel of Jesus Christ who is going to create a new Jerusalem".

"They direct how I act, sometimes they say kill, fight, hit, pray," he said.

The defendant said he had been using crack cocaine and LSD before his arrest, but had no memory of living in Tenerife.

Asked if he knew he was on the island after being brought there from a psychiatric unit in Seville on the Spanish mainland, he said: "I have just found out."

He also denied that he had lived in Wales, where he was sectioned in the summer of 2010 under the Mental Health Act at Glan Clwyd Hospital.

Last week Ms Mears and Mrs Gomes said they were attending the trial in order to come "face to face" with the killer and hope to banish memories which have been "shrouded by the brutality of her death".

The trial is expected to conclude on February 25.