A man identified as Nicholas Salvador has pleaded guilty by reason of insanity after accused of beheading an 82-year-old woman in north London.
Appearing briefly at London’s Old Bailey, the accused from Enfield, spoke only to issue his plea.
Dressed in black and flanked by three security guards, he also pleaded not guilty to a separate assault charge, citing the same reason.
Salvador, who is in his mid-20s, stands accused of killing grandmother Palmira Silva in September last year.
She was attacked with a machete in the garden of her home in Nightingale Road, Edmonton, and pronounced dead at the scene.
The suburban street became the scene of a major police operation after officers were called to apprehend the alleged killer.
Several of the victim’s relatives, including her daughter Celestina, were in the courtroom to witness the plea.
Mrs Silva, who was of Italian descent, ran Silva’s Cafe, in Church Street, near Edmonton Green station.
Floral tributes were left outside the cafe after the attack.
