- Nicholas Salvador, 25, killed 82-year-old Italian café owner Palmira Silva
- He stormed back gardens in Edmonton, London after beheading two cats
- Killer was then Tasered six times following violent struggle with officers
- Jury today found Salvador not guilty of murder on the grounds of insanity
This is the chilling footage which shows weapon-wielding killer Nicholas Salvador strolling through a north London suburb during a violent 45-minute rampage in which he beheaded a great-grandmother.
The paranoid schizophrenic was captured on police camera storming through back gardens in Edmonton, north London, before attacking 82-year-old Italian café owner Palmira Silva with a machete.
Before the ferocious attack on the elderly woman, Salvador had beheaded two cats belonging to a family with whom he was staying, just three doors away from the elderly woman.
Delusional Salvador – who was also brandishing a stick – then ran amok, tearing down fences and kicking down neighbours’ doors during the terrifying ordeal.
His rampage was so ferocious that armed police – who had to clear children away from the area out of fear for their safety – had to Taser the 25-year-old six times when they finally cornered him.
The court heard how Salvador, a cage fighter, thought he was killing supernatural beings – including Adolf Hitler ‘back from the dead’ – when he began his killing spree in September last year.
The 25-year-old, from Enfield, also in north London, was today found not guilty of Mrs Silva’s murder on the grounds of insanity.
He will now be locked up indefinitely in a psychiatric hospital and is expected to be treated at Broadmoor maximum security hospital, the home of some of Britain’s most dangerous killers.
Today, Mrs Silva’s 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 video 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 before stabbing her repeatedly. He then beheaded her.
Met Police release helicopter footage of Nicholas Salvador.
Handing down the hospital order, 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.
Although the footage was shown to the jury, just metres away from where Mrs Silva’s family sat in the public gallery, the final moments of her life and the immediate aftermath were edited out because it was deemed too distressing.
The court heard how, afterwards, children playing nearby had to be taken out of harm’s way as Salvador strode through backyards towards them, brandishing his weapons.
On the CCTV, an officer could be heard to say: ‘He’s agitated and lethal … he needs taking out.’
An officer then climbed on to a flat roof to warn the youngsters of the danger before they were rescued from a front window, the court was told.
Salvador was eventually cornered in the front room of a neighbour’s house where he was Tasered six times during a violent and chaotic struggle in which he bit a chunk out of an officer’s leg.
The rampage sparked a huge response from armed police who had to put their lives on the line to stop Salvador in his tracks.
After the attack, Salvador showed signs of mental illness, repeating phrases like ‘red is the colour’ and ‘I am the king’ over and over again, the court heard. The jury was told how he believed Mrs Silva was a supernatural entity.
Psychiatrists concluded that Salvador – described in court as a ‘decent man’ – was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was legally insane when Mrs Silva died.
The jury at the Old Bailey, who retired this morning, returned the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity just 40 minutes later.
In his closing remarks, Bernard Richmond QC, who represented Salvador, said that Mrs Silva ‘was probably the least evil person’.
He said: ‘It is one of the bitter ironies of this case that Mrs Silva was probably the least evil person you could think of. It is noticeable that throughout this trial her family have conducted themselves with a quiet dignity which is a tribute to both themselves and Mrs Silva.
‘It is plain also that, when he is not unwell, Mr Salvador is somebody regarded as a decent man.’
He added: ‘Mental illness in whatever circumstances can be terrifying for the person. After this case is finished, he will have to continue coming to terms with the horror of what he did when he was unwell.’
Jonathan Rees QC also told jurors that there was no dispute that the correct verdict was not guilty by reason of insanity because Salvador was a ‘very sick man’.
He said: ‘This was, was it not, a deeply upsetting and horrific incident. Mrs Silva was not targeted because of who she was. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
‘But for the efforts of the police and a measure of luck other people were not seriously injured or worse. The defendant was a very sick man.’
After the verdict was delivered, the judge commended all the police officers who worked to protect the public when they captured and restrained Salvador.
He singled out PC Steven Robertson whom he said should be ‘highly and publicly commended’ for his bravery in helping a family threatened by the killer.
The judge had asked them to put their emotions aside and consider the case in a ‘cool, calm and dispassionate’ way.
He said: ‘The most innocent and defenceless of victims was killed by a man who was in the grip of mental illness and was himself helpless in the face of that.’
The Old Bailey heard Salvador spent his early childhood with his grandmother in Nigeria after his parents separated.
He returned to the UK to go to primary school in Hackney and secondary school in Edmonton before studying media studies at college.
In 2012 he claimed he had converted to Islam and began preaching and attending mosques but later spoke about becoming a Buddhist.
By 2014 Salvador was living alone in Enfield and working as a fitness instructor and billboard advert installer. His father was in Nigeria and his mother was in Nottingham.
A few weeks before Mrs Silva was killed, he moved in with his schoolfriend Dominic Thorne in Nightingale Road, Edmonton.
The Thorne family described Salvador as ‘a real nice guy’ and ‘a happy, bubbly gentle giant type person’ before his behaviour deteriorated.
He started becoming obsessed with witchcraft, demons and the Illuminati and asked his friend Dominic, 25, ‘When am I going to get my powers?’ and ‘Am I going to turn into a girl?’
Vivian Thorne, his friend’s mother, suggested he see a doctor but he refused.
Salvador began drinking a bottle of brandy or whisky a day and the garage was littered with empty bottles of Corona lager. He also regularly smoked skunk cannabis and had taken cocaine, the court heard.
Then, three days before the killing, he lost his advertising job after failing to turn up for work.
At around 1pm on the day of the attack, Dominic’s sister Bianca, 31, saw Salvador chopping something with a machete in the back garden and looking up at the sky ‘like an act of worship’.
She went out to investigate and he told her: ‘I have killed your cat.’ When Dominic’s brother Darius, 21, asked why, he replied: ‘The cat is a demon.’
Darius and Bianca then took refuge in Darius’ car outside as Salvador began trying to break into the back foot of the house. Salvador then began looking for the family’s other three cats before kicking down the door of another property.
He then came back out to attack Darius’ car with a wooden pole and machete. Bianca was hit on the left shoulder with the pole before Darius managed to start the car and drive off.
As a police helicopter filmed the rampage, Salvador roamed down an alleyway and approached Mrs Silva, where the killing took place.
Salvador was convicted at Wood Green Crown Court of possession of a bladed article in April 2014. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment suspended for six months.
The conviction emerged at a preliminary hearing for Salvador at the Old Bailey in September last year. No mention of the conviction or any potential breach of the licence period was made at the trial.
There was also no reference to any previous contact with mental health services.
Mrs Silva came to the UK in 1953 and ran Silva’s Cafe in Church Street, Edmonton, with her husband Domenico.
After his death in 2008 she continued working at the cafe and maintained a vegetable patch in her garden.
At the time of her death she had two children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Police officer describes ‘utter terror’ as Nicholas Salvador went on violent rampage coming within metres of children playing in their back garden
A police officer described his ‘utter horror’ as killer Nicholas Salvador came within metres of two playing children during his murderous rampage through back gardens.
Enfield-based Inspector Doug Skinner was first on the scene, and was among the officers who put their lives on the line to rescue the youngsters and capture Salvador, after he had beheaded a defenceless great grandmother and two cats.
He said: ‘I knew that Salvador was armed, had already killed and that many people were in immediate danger. Nothing can fully prepare you for that type of call or the scene we encountered.
‘I immediately requested an unmarked car to move in close and track his movements. We decided we would have to remove residents before Salvador killed someone else.
‘The helicopter constantly tracked Salvador jumping fences and they’d also spotted children playing in nearby gardens. We genuinely thought he would kill those children and we were filled with utter terror.
‘We pulled up outside of an address close to the victim’s and smashed through the double glazed windows calling out to residents.
‘I then saw Salvador, stripped to the waist and standing in someone’s front room, armed with a blood-stained machete. I engaged him in conversation as he made stabbing motions towards me.’
He added: ‘I knew I had to buy enough time for the rest of the team to get residents, especially those kids, out of the area. Officers smashed through windows to pull them all to safety before Salvador could be contained in another house.
‘All units acted with extreme courage. Armed officers, unarmed officers and rookies – all working together, putting their own lives at risk to save others.’
Several officers suffered serious injuries in the struggle to subdue Salvador, with one firearms officer suffering a large bite to his lower leg.
Commander Simon Letchford said: ‘This was a horrendous and vicious attack which robbed a family of a much-loved vibrant mother and grandmother.
‘On behalf of the Met I would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of Palmira Silva.
‘I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the officers who dealt with the incident and faced a truly shocking scene.
‘I managed to personally speak to those who initially responded and faced a fast-moving and difficult situation. The officers did everything they could to keep people safe and clear the area. They undoubtedly put their own lives on the line to ensure there was no further loss of life that day.
‘I have nothing but praise and admiration for them and we should all be grateful that we have officers who will risk their own lives to keep others safe.’
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