An Aviemore man has admitted stabbing two people in an unprovoked attack after he was thrown out of a nightclub.

Thomas McIntyre stabbed Calum Robb and Derek Rocks in Kilwinning, Ayrshire on August 16 last year.

On Tuesday, the High Court in Glasgow heard McIntyre, 34, stabbed Mr Robb through the stomach and the knife sliced through his liver and narrowly missed the main artery and his heart.  Prosecutor Jennifer Bain said: "Doctors are of the opinion that if the injury had been a couple of centimetres either way he would have died

McIntyre has admitted attempting to murder Mr Robb and assaulting Mr Rocks to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement outside the Claremont Hotel in the town's Byres Road.

The court heard that McIntyre, a student at James Watt College in Kilwinning, had been drinking in the hotel but was thrown out after he complained of being short-changed. 

Ms Bain said: "After the night club closed the accused  approached the main door carrying a knife. Without warning he stabbed Mr Robb and then lunged towards Mr Rocks slashing him on the neck and arm." 

Solicitor advocate Murray Macara QC, who is defending McIntyre, said: "My client worked as a chef in Aviemore but had to give that up because he suffered from arthritis. He was studying multimedia at the James Watt College campus in Kilwinning and living in the town when this happened."

Judge Lord Uist deferred sentence until next month.