A man who brutally murdered a nurse during a 'frenzied attack', has been sentenced to life in prison.

Iranian-born Iman Saeed Ghaefelipour, 28, stabbed his ex-girlfriend Katie Cullen 130 times in the head before gouging out her right eye.

Her mutilated body was found on October 22 last year after police were called to her house on Harcourt Street in Stockport.

Ms Cullen, 34, met pizza delivery worker Ghaefelipour, of Stretford Road, Urmston, at a salsa dancing class in early 2008. They became a couple and she introduced the asylum seeker to her family and friends, Manchester Crown Court heard.

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But the nurse, a senior sister in cardiology at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, finished with him when she discovered he had taken £3,000 from her bank account. She refused to press charges and agreed he could pay her back in instalments.

Ghaefelipour went to her house on October 20, perhaps to pay her back some of the money, Graham Wood QC, prosecuting, told the court. After she let him in, he launched into a 'horrific and sustained assault, not even ceasing in his frenzied attack when she lost consciousness', he said.

Concerned family members called the police when the dedicated nurse did not turn up for work.

Officers found her body in a pool of blood. She was lying in her lounge with her arms outstretched and had a cloth over her face, the court heard. When they lifted the cloth, they discovered her right eye was missing.

Ghaefelipour was arrested the next day by officers when boarding a bus in Stretford. He denied killing Ms Cullen, before changing his plea to guilty in January.
Mr Justice Ryder sentenced him to a minimum of 23 years in prison and ordered his deportation.