THE family of a British grandmother beheaded by a drug addict who had been sectioned at Glan Clwyd Hospital have called for an inquiry into his treatment at the Bodelwyddan hospital.
Homeless Deyan Deyanov, 29, was found guilty last week of murdering Jennifer Mills-Westley, 60, in a knife attack on Tenerife in May, 2011.
He repeatedly stabbed and then beheaded his victim, originally from Norwich, who had been shopping in the resort of Los Cristianos.
Deyanov, originally from Bulgaria, had previously been sectioned in the summer of 2010 under the Mental Health Act in Glan Clwyd and again in Tenerife in early February 2011.
In a family statement after the conviction, the family said the care of people like Deyanov should be taken more seriously.
“Since the May 13 2011, Jennifer Mills-Westley has become known as the lady who was beheaded in Tenerife.
“The truth is she was our mum, our mentor and our best friend.
“It’s hard to put into words the devastating impact that this preventable and needless act has had on us as a family - sadly mum was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“We will be asking the health authority to conduct a full inquiry into what happened in particular around his treatment in the UK.”
Deyano lived with his Bulgarian aunt and her British husband at their home in Flint before his departure to the Canary Islands in October 2010.
Living rough in Los Cristianos, the crack cocaine and LSD user was well-known to police on the island and had been arrested at least four times since January 2011 for violent offences.
A warrant for his arrest had been issued just three days before the killing but officers were unable to locate him.
A spokesman for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: “The health board can confirm that it provided assistance to North Wales Police in relation to a person detained at Glan Clwyd Hospital for his own safety in the summer of 2010.
“The Health Board has had no further contact with this client since October 2010.”