Asylum seeker murdered nurse after police failed to warn her of danger The IPCC report said that in August 2007 an ex-girlfriend of Ghaefelipour had contacted police to report that he had had threatened to kill her. Shortly afterwards there were two serious arson attacks at her home, but while the crimes were investigated no charges were ever brought. After Miss Cullen ended her relationship with Ghaefelipour he attacked her and threatened to kill her and her new boyfriend after bumping into them in a McDonald's restaurant. Despite reporting the incident to the police, the IPCC report said she had been passed from "pillar to post" and was not seen by officers until more than a month later. Later officers checked into Ghaefelipour's background and his violent history with the ex-girlfriend. But they decided not to contact Miss Cullen and pass on the information because, the report said, "they were not required to do so by policy or procedure" because he had not actually been charged or convicted of the suspected offences. The IPCC report said that had the earlier arson offences been adequately investigated, it is possible that he would have been convicted and not at liberty to murder Miss Cullen. And if police had not withheld information about her killer it would have "enabled her to better understand the dangerous situation she was in," the IPCC said. IPCC deputy chair Rachel Cerfontyne said: "Katie Cullen was brutally murdered. Her family have been devastated by their loss and they are still struggling to come to terms with that fact that not only did the police fail to help her, their actions may have given her false reassurance and, in doing so, increased her vulnerability. In my view, Katie was badly let down by Greater Manchester Police. Our investigation has exposed a catalogue of inaction and missed opportunities. Katie and her family deserved better. The mutilated body of Miss Cullen, who worked as a senior sister in cardiology at the Liverpool Heart and Chester Hospital, was found in a pool of blood at her home in Stockport on October 22 2009. Her right eye was missing and was later found dumped in a plastic bag, along with the knife that was used to kill her. Pizza deliver worker, Ghaefelipour was later jailed for life, with the recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25-years before being eligible for release. Following the publication of the IPCC report, her family said they were "utterly appalled" at the way GMP had dealt with the case. Her mother Diane Cullen said: "We are distraught at what happened to Katie and utterly appalled at the lack of care she received at the hands of GMP when she reported the threat to kill her and their decision to keep vital information from her." She went on: "By withholding such information from Katie, they denied her the opportunity to protect herself. She returned to her own home alone and vulnerable, ignorant of the dangerous situation she was in. Since Katie's murder we have been plunged into unimaginable torture. There isn't a day goes by I don't think about her and miss her. She meant the world to me and my family. We all adored her and without her our lives can never be the same. GMP has told the IPCC it has learned lessons and has improved working practice across the force.