An 82-year-old woman was reportedly beheaded in the garden of a north London house yesterday in what police are describing as a random attack.
Palmira Silva was found at her property in Nightingale Road, Edmonton, just after midday.
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The Daily Telegraph says that "one line of inquiry for detectives is understood to be that the man was inspired by recent footage of terrorists beheading two American journalists in Syria", but detectives said that there was no suggestion that the crime was terrorism-related.
Freda Odame, a catering worker, 30, told The Times that she had seen the man in her neighbour's garden earlier in the day, wielding a foot-long blade.
She said: "I could hear the screaming but I could not hear what he was saying. I closed my curtains because I was scared. Five minutes after I heard him screaming, the police knocked on my door and told me I had to get out."
Commander Simon Letchford said that police had created a distraction so as to evacuate residents from 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.
Detectives are investigating two other attempted attacks on Nightingale Road earlier in the day, though they stress they are not searching for any other suspects.
Detective Chief Inspector 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.
Silva was a grandmother of four who lived alone after her husband died in 2008. Until recently she ran a local café with her son, The Times says.
In a separate incident, police shot dead a man who was threatening a woman with a knife at a house in north London last night. Police were called to the property on Shepperton Road, Islington, shortly before 11pm. At 1am shots were fired at the man by police, the BBC reports. He was pronounced dead before he reached hospital, Scotland Yard said.