A bag of weapons stashed by a stalker who went on to murder a 23-year-old woman was treated as lost property by police – despite containing a receipt that could have identified him, it has emerged.

Michael Sellers stabbed colleague Gracie Spinks to death four months after she reported him for stalking.

Six weeks before the murder, two walkers found a bag of weapons – including Rambo-style knives and axe blades – near the scene and handed them into Derbyshire Police.

But Miss Spinks’ family have now been told the bag was simply placed into lost property, despite containing a receipt for the weapons that led back to Sellers.

Miss Spinks’ family have said they believe she would still be alive if the police had done their job properly.

Her mother, Alison Heaton, told the BBC: “It was a very, very sinister bag of weapons, including Rambo-style knives, axe, blades, Viagra, a note, and they just logged it as lost property.

“We now know that bag directly led straight back to Michael Sellers. There was a receipt in there that led back to his household.

“They traced it back to that house after her death. It should have been traced back to that household back on May 6,” the date the bag was found.