Chilling footage which shows weapon-wielding killer Nicholas Salvador, 25, strolling through a north London suburb during a violent 45-minute rampage in which he beheaded a great-grandmother, has been released.
The paranoid schizophrenic was captured on police helicopter camera storming through back gardens in Edmonton, north London, after attacking 82-year-old Italian café owner Palmira Silva with a machete.
Before the ferocious attack on the elderly woman, bare-chested Salvador - whose nickname is Fat Nick - had beheaded two cats, just three doors away from where the elderly woman lived
At one point, the 25-year-old strode towards a driver who was sitting in his car and threatened him with the weapon, forcing him to flee from the scene.
The footage released yesterday only shows us a few minutes of what happened, but in it we see Salavador knocking over fences and eventually going into somebody’s home.
Reports suggest that he thought he was killing supernatural beings.
Seconds after killing Mrs Silva, the heavily built 6ft killer also came within just a few feet of two children who were playing in their back garden, who had to be desperately urged away by police.
His rampage was so ferocious that armed police began smashing windows to rescue residents, warning them to run for their lives amid fears of a further attack.
Despite putting himself in serious danger, one officer - who was later praised for his heroic actions - even jumped onto a roof and desperately urged the young children to scramble to safety.
In the audio recorded alongside the CCTV, an officer could be heard saying: 'He's agitated and lethal ... he needs taking out.'
The court heard how Salvador, a cage fighter, believed he was killing supernatural beings - including Adolf Hitler 'back from the dead' - when he began his killing spree
last year.
The footage was shown to the jury, just metres away from where Mrs Silva's family sat in the public gallery. But the final moments of Mrs Silva's life had been edited out because it was deemed too distressing.
The family, who had been in court during the trial, wiped away tears as the Recorder of London Nicholas Hilliard QC said that Salvador had killed the elderly woman with 'extraordinary brutality and ferocity'.
He said: 'You thought you were encountering some demonic force which had taken on a human form. You could not have been more deluded.
'It is a mercy that she can have had no time to begin to comprehend what was going on. This gentle, intelligent 82-year-old lady should have been able to live her life in peace and with security, proud in the achievements of others, but that was not to be.'
The footage showed Mrs Silva, who was wearing an apron, approaching Salvador over her garden wall.
After a brief exchange, the defendant was then seen climbing into her flowerbed, where he stabbed her repeatedly and beheaded her.
The judge said that 'nobody could forget the mild and trusting way' that Mrs Silva had approached Salvador over the wall while he was clutching a knife.
After the attack, the court heard how Salvador showed signs of mental illness, repeating phrases like 'red is the colour' and 'I am the king' over and over again.
The jury was told how he believed Mrs Silva was a supernatural entity.
The killer and his victim...
The officers pursuing him are unarmed, with the one you see climbing on the roof to warn the children to leave the garden being commended for his bravery.
“We genuinely thought he would kill those children and we were filled with utter terror.” Inspector Doug Skinner said.
When police finally cornered him they had to Taser him six times before he became subdued Salvador was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
Two psychiatrists judged him to be suffering paranoid schizophrenia. and was legally insane when Mrs Silva died.
A Jury yesterday found him not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity. He will be confined in a high-security psychiatric hospital for life.
Source: UK Daily Mail/Hellou
