The aunt of a drug-crazed schizophrenic who beheaded a pensioner said the victim would still be alive had her concerns over his mental health been listened to.
Speaking for the first time since a damning inquiry into the slaying of Jennifer Mills-Westley the aunt of Bulgarian drifter Deyan Deyanov told of her shock at the decision of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to release her nephew months before the brutal killing.
Deyanov's aunt, care worker Ani Hilditch, from Flint in North Wales, said she and husband Alun have been left "devastated" over the May 2011 murder in the Tenerife resort of Los Cristianos.
The 56-year-old said: "To say it's devastating - devastating is a small word.
"We have tried to rebuild our lives afterwards and it's very hard.
"It's like a stone on our necks all the time."
An independent Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) report released on Tuesday said homeless drug addict Deyanov was misdiagnosed as faking mental illness before his release from the Ablett psychiatric unit at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, North Wales.
Deyanov was first sectioned after Mrs Hilditch contacted police in June 2010 about his "strange behaviour" when he told people he was to become famous.
Following his release he was later detained at the unit a second time in September after telling a police officer he thought he needed help.
But medics allowed him to leave just weeks later because they believed he was pretending to be ill to gain accommodation.
In a report HIW said the diagnosis of "malingering" - described as "rare" and "unusual" in itself - needed to be supported by "a substantial evidential base" that was not there.
HIW found the misdiagnosis had an impact on a lack of follow-up support for Deyanov, now 30. After his discharge he was left to manage without ongoing care.
Deyanov lived with the Hilditches before his departure to the Canary Islands in October 2010.
Mrs Hilditch said: "They rang me from the hospital the second time [he was detained] and asked for permission to keep him because I had the authority to make a decision for him.
"They had my permission and he was still released. What can I think about that?"
Footage from the murder trial:
Mrs Hilditch said she now wants to see medics learn from the tragedy.
"I will be really glad if the treatment in the hospital for the patients will be changed and it prevents more accidents happening in the future.
"It's a hospital at the end of the day. They should get their treatment up to the end and provide them with accommodation and work - not just let them out without any consideration."
After the report was published the victim's daughters, Sarah and Samantha Mills-Westley, said they felt a "sense of betrayal" over their dealings with the health board.
They accused the health board of prolonging the family's pain by "obstructing" their pleas for truth.
Mrs Hilditch said she would never have allowed Deyanov into her home had she suspected he was capable of the murderous violence he unleashed on Ms Mills-Westley.
In a Chinese-owned general store near the beach Deyanov picked up a 22cm-long knife and plunged it repeatedly into Ms Mills-Westley's neck before walking out into the street carrying her severed head.
Mrs Hilditch said: "I never believed he was capable of anything like that.
Had I known anything like that my door never would have been opened for him."
Asked whether 60-year-old Mrs Mills-Westley would still be alive had her worries over his mental health been heeded she replied: "Of course."
Betsi Cadwaladr say changes have happened since the murder but "mental illness is a complex issue and diagnosis is not always straightforward".
The health board maintain they cannot be certain their treatment of Deyanov "influenced his actions seven months later in Tenerife".
But the HIW report concluded there were "clear shortcomings" relating to the care provided to Deyanov in North Wales.
It added: "It is difficult to determine how these deficiencies may have directly influenced and led to the events of May 2011.
However we do believe that had the issues that we identify within the report been addressed that the likelihood of such an incident occurring might have been significantly reduced."
The report, commissioned by the Welsh Government after Ms Mills-Westley's two daughters pressed for an inquiry, also noted that evidence of aggression from Deyanov was ignored.
On September 15, 2010, he was overheard on the ward saying: "I will have tomurder someone to get deported back to Bulgaria.
"Ms Mills-Westley, a retired road safety worker originally from Norwich, had complained that Tenerife was less safe than when she started visiting 30 years ago.
Deyanov was well-known to police on the island and had been arrested at least four times since January 2011 for violent offences.
He was sectioned at Tenerife's La Candelaria hospital before being bailed in early February 2011.
A warrant for his arrest had been issued just three days before the killing but officers were unable to locate him.
Experts say schizophrenics are more than twice as likely as people without mental-health problems to kill but the risk remains extremely low.
Much of the increased risk is said to be down to other factors like drug use.
Deyanov was last February sentenced to 20 years in a secure psychiatric unit in Seville after he was convicted of murder.
Following the publication of the report Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which runs Glan Clwyd, apologised to Ms Mills-Westley's family.
It said it had already made progress on some of the 19 recommendations for improvements in care advised by HIW.
The board's medical director, Professor Matthew Makin, said: "This is a deeply distressing tragedy for the family of the victim and I hope that they will be assured that things have changed as a result of what has happened.
"Mental illness is a complex issue and diagnosis is not always straightforward. We cannot say with certainty whether the treatment provided to Mr M (Deyanov) while in our care influenced his actions seven months later in Tenerife.
"However I acknowledge and sincerely apologise for the shortcomings in the care provided to Mr M.
"The health board is determined to significantly improve our policies and procedures and the management of risk and to have robust systems in place to assure ourselves that, as far as possible, we can protect both vulnerable patients and the public.
"Work to address most of the recommendations made in the report has been under way for some time and is detailed in our action plan. However there is no room for complacency.
"We will study the report and its recommendations closely to ensure any further changes and improvements that are needed are made at pace."
Prof Makin said a decision on whether any disciplinary action against any of the treating staff would be made once the board had fully reflected on the report.
