The family of an 82-year-old woman who was beheaded in her garden say they have been “on edge ever since”.

Palmira Silva, of Nightingale Road, Enfield, was murdered last September by Nicholas Salvador, of Gilda Road, Enfield.

Today, Salvador has been found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity but will be detained at Broadmoor Hospital indefinitely Nikki Wright, Mrs Silva’s granddaughter, said: “The day will stay with me forever due to the horrific actions of one man.

“For many nights I found it too hard to sleep without thinking about it. My life has been turned upside down, I now have to lock my back door during the day when I'm at home alone, also before it gets dark when my husband is home because I'm too scared to go outside.

“I have been on edge ever since, I was once so scared of a couple of girls running past that I had to lock the car door shut.

“It's taken time for me to be able to differentiate between my emotions, I'd get annoyed and angry at friends and family for silly things as I was hurting so much inside and I didn't know how to cope with all these feelings.

“Not only has my life changed but that of my daughter as well. She was only 10 months at the time and now she will grow up never knowing her great grandmother, and that breaks my heart each and every single day.”

Her granddaughter, Christina Silva, said she replays the attack in her head and is plagued with nightmares of the attack.

She said: “Since the attack I have completely changed compared to the person I used to be. I felt after the attack that I had lost control of my life and my independence. I was suddenly relying on people to get me through the day.

!The thought of being alone in my house terrified me. Every door and window in the house had to be locked, something that had never bother me in the past.

“Being out in public often causes me to be on edge and there are now times where I will walk in a different direction because I worry about my safety.

“Sometimes my emotions or my thoughts get the better of me and this has caused me to have panic attacks, something I never experienced before what happened.

“As a family we had so many exciting things happening in the next few years and it breaks my heart knowing that she will not be there. I am due to get married next summer and one of the reasons I pushed to get married soon is because I really wanted my nan to be there.

“It really hurts knowing that because of one person’s actions I will not be able to see her proud face that day.”