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Spanish court refuses bail for Deyan Valentinov Deyanov as questions are raised over island’s mental health provision The man accused of murdering Jennifer Mills-Westley, the British woman who was beheaded in a frenzied knife attack while shopping on the holiday island of Tenerife, has been remanded in prison by a Spanish court. The decision came amid a growing scandal over how Deyan Valentinov Deyanov, a 28-year-old Bulgarian with a record of mental health problems and violence was allowed to roam the streets of the tourist resort of Los Cristianos, in the south of Tenerife. Locals also expressed growing concern about the impact on tourism in a Canary Island resort highly popular with Britons. It has emerged that Mills-Westley, 60, who had five grandchildren, had sought refuge at an employment centre in Los Cristianos, where she told social services officials she was being trailed. A man was reportedly sent away from the area by a security guard before she left the building. A police source working on the murder inquiry told the Sunday Times that Mills-Westley had waited in the office until the man following her had disappeared. She then walked into a Chinese-owned shop nearby but 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. The local Canarias 7 newspaper reported on Sunday that Deyanov was known as “the prophet” because of his habit of shouting out that he was God on Earth. “A lot of people called him the prophet, and everyone knew he was dangerous,” Davide Balsamo, who helped tackle the man as he ran down the street with his 60-year-old victim’s head on Friday morning, told the newspaper. “We used to hear him shouting in the street and he had been arrested more than once for attacking people,” neighbour Bernardo Parra said. While the local town hall denied having had any dealing with Deyanov, local people said that the municipality’s own mental health services should have taken charge of him. “Someone as dangerous as this should never have been allowed out of psychiatric treatment,” said Rosa, a poster on the Canarias 7 website. The local El Día newspaper reported that Deyanov, who lived in a semi-abandoned building, had been detained several times after creating trouble in bars and shops. In February, municipal police had taken him to the psychiatric unit at the local Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria hospital. He had since been released. Deyanov was eventually disarmed by a security guard from the local employment offices where Mills-Westley had reportedly sought help moments earlier after being threatened by Deyanov. “Death! I’ll kill you,” Deyanov had shouted at security guard Juan Antonio Hernández, who responded by striking him on the arm with his baton, making him drop his knife. Deyanov was chased up the street by Hernández and others and eventually tackled and handcuffed. “He smelt strongly of alcohol and was shouting,” said local woman María Carmen Pérez. Mills-Westley’s daughter Sarah said: “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. 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”. Relatives are being helped by consular staff who have been liaising with the Tenerife authorities. Spain Europe Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk