82-year-old woman beheaded in north London

A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and is now in custody.

16:55 05 September 2014

An 85-year-old woman has been killed in a suspected beheading in North London. Palmira Silva was found by the police in the back of her garden and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and is now in custody. It is not yet established if the victim and the suspect knew each other. Detectives confirmed that there was no suggestion that the killing had a terrorist motive.

Following his arrest with the officers using a taser, the suspect was brought to the hospital for injuries including broken wrist believed to have been sustained during the arrest process.

Speaking at the scene of the attack, Cdr Simon Letchford said police had distracted the man while they evacuated nearby houses.

"Officers had to do everything they could to make other people safe and evacuate houses and put their lives on the line to make sure this individual did not cause further harm," he said.

Det Ch Insp John Sandlin said: "I can understand why this may cause people concern, however we are confident that we are not looking for anyone else at this stage.

"Whilst it is too early to speculate on what the motive behind this attack was I am confident, based on the information currently available to me, that it is not terrorist related."