Machete murder suspect Nicholas Salvador appears in court after woman beheaded in north London garden

 
Horrific: victim Palmira Silva and her alleged attacker Nicholas Salvadore
Robin de Peyer6 September 2014
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The man dubbed 'Fat Nick' suspected of beheading an 82-year-old grandmother in her back garden in north London has appeared in court charged with her murder.

Unemployed Nicholas Salvador, 25, who is believed to have been staying with a friend near victim Palmira Silva's home in Edmonton, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court today. He is also charged with assault on a police officer.

He was led into the glass-fronted dock with his hands cuffed behind his back, escorted by four uniformed police officers.

Salvador is alleged to have killed Palmira Silva, 82, in the garden of her home in Nightingale Road, Edmonton, on Thursday.

He was remanded in custody by District Judge Julian Newton and will appear at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.

It comes as CCTV emerged of his movements two hours before the murder, in which he is shown buying a quarter-pounder burger and an egg in a nearby cafe.

Salvador, of Gilda Avenue, Enfield, spent last night under police guard in hospital, where he was quizzed by detectives and later charged.

Victim: Palmira Silva, who was slaughtered in her garden

Friends claimed he is from a Muslim background.

Salvador, an only child, is thought to have left home at the age of around 13 or 14 after arriving in the UK from Nigeria with his parents.

Mrs Silva arrived in London from her native southern Italy with her husband Domenico, with whom she ran a successful restaurant business.

Silva's Cafe, which the widower ran in Church Street, Edmonton, was shuttered up as local people tried to come to terms with the tragedy.

The widow's family told of their shock at the "horrendous" slaughter in the back garden of her home.

Her daughter, Celestina, said the area in which her mother lived after moving from Italy with her husband in the 1950s had changed dramatically.

The 49-year-old told the Daily Mail: "She knew the area was changing but she was determined to stay. It seems such a dreadful, senseless waste."

Edmonton 'beheading'

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She said the nature of her mother's death was "the most horrendous thing".

Police were forced to stage a dramatic evacuation operation to save neighbours during the incident, and an armed squad Tasered the suspect.

Crime scene: the aftermath of the incident in Edmonton, north London

The house in the busy street where the Italian widow's body was found was the scene of a major police operation after officers were called to the scene initially to reports that a man had beheaded an animal.

Scotland Yard said that its officers distracted a man after he was seen going through back gardens in Nightingale Road while they evacuated people from nearby homes.

A witness at the scene had described seeing a headless cat as he watched the drama from his window.

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