An elderly lady murdered in her garden often talked about her late husband and was looking forward to her granddaughter’s marriage, her friends say.

Palmira Silva, 82, who was beheaded outside her home in Nightingale Road last week, was dubbed "an angel" by one customer of the cafe she ran in Church Street with her son.

Rows of flowers have been placed outside the cafe, Silva's Cafe, with passers-by frequently stopping to add more.

Jeremy Cowley, 53, who knew Mrs Silva for more than 30 years, said: “She had just come back from holiday. She was so excited, she’d just had a great granddaughter and her granddaughter was getting married.

“We just can’t believe it. She lost her husband five years ago. The only peace we can get out of this is that she’s going to be with her husband now.”

Mr Cowley, who would also sometimes attend church with Mrs Silva, said she would often talk about missing her husband, Domenico Silva. He described her as appearing “dazed” or in a “day-dream” as she spoke of him.

He said:  “She would talk to us in the cafe when everyone had gone, and she’d always talk about her husband. She’d talk as though he was still there, and she’d talk about the good times.

“Everything she did, she did for other people. Her family will never get over it.”

He added: “It happened on her day off. Under different circumstances, on almost any other day, she’d have been here in the cafe working.

“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We’re all just trying to get our head around it.”

Mr Cowley, who was visibly upset, said the flowers outside the cafe were proof of the community’s “pure love” for the great-grandmother.

“Every day you walk past and there are more flowers. She’ll probably be buried with her husband in Lavender Hill, but that’s something for the family to decide. She’s another angel that’s gone to heaven.”

A man named Steve, who did not want to give his surname, said he has lived in Haselbury Road for 16 years and would often visit Mrs Silva’s cafe.

He said: “It’s just absolutely shocking what happened. It doesn’t make sense. Not many cafes in Edmonton have been around as long as Mrs Silva’s.”

Mr Tahrir, who works at the chicken shop two doors down from Silva’s Cafe, remembered a “nice woman” who was “loved by everyone”.

He said: “I first read about what happened in the newspaper, it’s just so sad. She was an 82-year-old woman, why did this happen?”

Tributes on the flowers outside read "Pam, sadly missed, God Bless", "Deepest sympathies, Ken, Jackie and the Edmonton Drum Corps", "Pam, you made the best bubble in north London", "You were such a nice person, God bless you".