A 60 year old British woman was attacked and then decapitated in a supermarket in avenida Juan Carlos I in the town of Arona in southern Tenerife on Friday.
A man, a 28 year old homeless Bulgarian national, entered the supermarket and then began a frenzied attack against the woman before decapitating her and running out of the shop with the head in his hand.
The brutal attack, apparently unprovoked, took place at 10:30 on Friday in front of numerous visitors and residents.
Security guards tackled the man as he ran away and then had to fend off members of the public who were trying to get at him. Some witnesses say that the man picked up a knife in the supermarket, others say he entered the premises carrying a machete.
Several people had to be treated for shock after the true horror of the scene began to sink in.
The alleged assailant is 28 year old Bulgarian national Deyan Valentinov D, a man known to the authorities in the area and who suffers severe mental problems. He has been involved in a long list of violent episodes in the area and up until February was confined in the psychiatric department of the Hospital Universitario de la Candelario.
Locals had, in the past, complained that his presence would disturb the peace in the area but never thought it would end in murder.