'Cannibal' under arrest in Mexico

Police sent to the home of Jose Luis Calva say they discovered a woman's torso in a cupboard, leg in the fridge and bones in a cereal carton.

They are also reported to have discovered the draft of an unfinished novel, titled Cannibal Instincts.

Mr Calva is now also being investigated in connection with the disappearances of an ex-girlfriend and a prostitute.

Police were called to Mr Calva's apartment in central Mexico City on Monday after neighbours reported a bad smell.

There they discovered the remains of his girlfriend, Alejandro Galeana, a 30-year-old pharmacy worker and mother of two. She had been reported missing by her family on Friday.

Police are said to be investigating whether chunks of meat found in a frying pan in the apartment are human.

Mr Calva was injured as he tried to escape and is now in hospital.

He has told police he is an aspiring horror writer and poet.

In initial interrogations he also confessed to being an admirer of the British actor Anthony Hopkins, who plays a cannibal in the film Silence of the Lambs, reported the news agency Efe.

Police say they are now investigating the possibility of links with previous murders. The mutilated body of a former girlfriend, Veronica Consuelo Martinez, was discovered in 2004, and body parts of a prostitute were found in plastic bags on a street in the north of Mexico City earlier this year.