A man beheaded a British woman after randomly attacking her in a supermarket on the Spanish resort island of Tenerife, police have said.

The suspect, a homeless Bulgarian man with a police record identified as Deyan Valentinov, was captured by security guards after he ran out of the supermarket with the blood-soaked head in his hands. He was then arrested.

“The attack culminated with the decapitation of the victim,” Canary Islands police said in a statement.

“The attacker left the store with the head in his hand and then threw it to the pavement.”

A witness told broadcaster Cadena Ser that he saw the man drop the woman’s head after coming out of the store.