Cage fighter locked up after being caught on CCTV beheading an elderly woman and two cats
A cage fighter caught on CCTV beheading an elderly woman and two cats during a 45-minute rampage will be locked up indefinitely in a psychiatric hospital.
Nicholas Salvador believed he was killing demons when he tore down fences and kicked down neighbours' doors in Edmonton in north London in September last year.
Video footage taken from a police helicopter overhead showed Nicholas Salvador approaching Palmira Silva over her garden wall.
Because of the distressing nature of the content, the video footage has been edited.
After a brief exchange, Salvador stabbed Palmira Silva repeatedly before cutting her head off.
Children playing nearby had to be taken out of the way as Salvador strode through backyards towards them, brandishing his weapons.
On the CCTV footage, an officer could be heard to say:
An officer climbed on to a flat roof to warn the children of the danger before they were rescued from a front window.
Salvador was eventually cornered in the front room of a neighbour's house and Tasered six times during a violent and chaotic struggle in which one police officer was injured.
Salvador had denied murder by reason of insanity and his trial heard that two psychiatrists agreed he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
Before the killing, Salvador, from Enfield, had become obsessed with the idea of shapeshifters.
He had lost his job in billboard advertising three days before the killing over concern about his behaviour.
At the time of the killing he had been staying with friends three doors away from Mrs Silva in Nightingale Road.
In his closing speech, Jonathan Rees QC told jurors that there was no dispute that the correct verdict was not guilty by reason of insanity so Salvador could be treated and the public protected.
The jury retired returned a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Mrs Silva's family wiped away tears and hugged each other as the Recorder of London Nicholas Hilliard QC handed Salvador a hospital order. The judge said:
The judge also commended all the police officers who worked to protect the public when they captured and restrained Salvador.
In particular, Pc Steven Robertson was praised for climbing on top of a roof to help bring two children to safety.