A man has admitted murdering Dundee woman Katy Rourke in the flat they shared in Glasgow.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Gary Stevenson, 27, stabbed the 25-year-old from Broughty Ferry three times.

Stevenson confessed to police that he killed Ms Rourke, telling them: "I stabbed her. I think it was three times."

He told officers: "If it wasn't her, it would be someone else. I just want to tell the truth for the sake of the family."

Stevenson also admitted hitting her repeatedly before the knife attack.

The High Court was told Ms Rourke rented a room in the Govan flat where hospital laboratory assistant Stevenson was the tenant.

Her friends last heard from her when she texted at 1.20am on December 29. They became worried when she failed to turn up for work in the morning.

Some time after 4pm, Ms Rourke's friends Claire Surgeoner, Emma Collumb and Isla Porter went to the flat to see if they could find her and saw her car parked outside but there was no answer.

Advocate depute Bruce Erroch, prosecuting, said: "They went out into the back garden and noticed one of the rear windows of the flat was open and a light was on. They thought if a light was on Katy must be in and phoned the police."

When police searched the flat they discovered Ms Rourke's body in her bedroom. She had two slash wounds and a smaller puncture wound to her lower back. A large kitchen knife was lying on the bed beside her body.

Stevenson told officers he and Ms Rourke had been drinking. He said he lost control and began hitting her as she fought back. He then went into the kitchen, got a knife and stabbed her three times.

He told police: "She started fighting back so that's when I took a knife from the kitchen and used that to make sure she stopped moving, that's it.

"I've never been in trouble for violence. But when I did lose control, it just felt like there was nothing to stop me. There were no moral boundaries left in my life."

The fatal wound was to the sack round Ms Rourke's heart and pathologists said that after it was inflicted she would have suffered massive blood loss, unconsciousness and death.

Stevenson admitted murdering Ms Rourke between December 29 and 30, last year, at Flat1/2, 8 Minto Street, Govan, Glasgow.

After barricading the front door with furniture Stevenson left the flat with Ms Rourke's dead body inside by shimmying down a drainpipe.

He bought a knife, alcohol and painkillers and then went to North Berwick and at 3.03am phoned an ambulance saying he had slashed his wrists.

Stevenson was taken at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and while there police received information he was suspected of murdering Ms Rourke.

Mr Erroch asked the judge to consider placing Stevenson on the sex offenders register.

Judge Lady Rae deferred sentence on Stevenson until next month for background reports.