The devastated family of a Norwich grandmother who was decapitated in a shocking attack in Tenerife have been offered the condolences of relatives of the man accused of the brutal killing.

Jennifer Mills-Westley, pictured, a former Norfolk County Council road safety officer who lived in Hellesdon before retiring to live in Tenerife, was killed in an attack at a shop in Los Cristianos on Friday, May 13.

Deyan Deyanov, 28, who was arrested on suspicion of the murder of the 60-year-old mother-of-two and grandmother-of-five, has appeared in court and been remanded in custody. He is currently in the psychiatric unit of the prison.

Shocked relatives of Deyanov, who live in Wales, have broken their silence over the killing to express how 'deeply sorry' they are for the effect it has had on Mrs Mills-Westley's family. Deyanov lived with his Bulgarian aunt Ani Traycheva-Hilditch and her British husband Alun Hilditch at their home in the Welsh town of Flint last year before he left for the Canary Islands in October.

Speaking to a newspaper in Wales, Mrs Traycheva-Hilditch said: 'We have been very upset about it. It is hard to bear thought for the things he did – he killed a woman.

'It's not a nightmare, it's worse than that. We do not agree with the things he did. We didn't want him to hurt anyone.

'At the end of the day you have to help a person who needs help and that is what we did. We are praying for his actions.'

Mrs Traycheva-Hilditch offered her sympathies to the family of Mrs Mills-Westley. She said: 'Our family is in shock just like her family. We send big apologies to the woman who lost her life.'

Mr Hilditch added: 'Obviously we're deeply sorry about what he has done as you can imagine. He just came to us dishevelled with no food and no money and like any other family we helped him.

'We didn't know it was going to turn out like this.' Deyanov is understood to have travelled between North Wales, Edinburgh, Cyprus and Tenerife but returned regularly to Flint to visit his relatives. He was taken into care at a psychiatric unit at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan last summer.

Norwich North MP Chloe Smith has backed calls for an inquiry into why Deyanov was released from the hospital prior to the murder. A spokesman for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said: 'The health board can confirm that the client received inpatient care at the health hoard's facilities during 2010.

'We are currently reviewing all records relating to the case in line with standard clinical procedures.'