A convicted knife killer tried to murder a woman with a dumbbell in woodland just five days after being released from jail on home leave.

Robbie McIntosh battered Linda McDonald with a dumbbell and dragged her into Templeton Woods, Dundee, on August 7.

The 31-year-old repeatedly struck her on the head and body, rendering her unconscious.

McIntosh, of Strathmartine, Angus, then seized her by the body and dragged her from a path.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, McIntosh pleaded guilty to trying to murder Ms McDonald. He will be sentenced next month.

A judge told McIntosh: "This is one of the worst cases of violence I have had to deal with."

The attack came shortly after the former Harris Academy pupil, who stabbed civil servant Anne Nicoll 29 times when he was 15, was released from prison on home leave.

He was found guilty of murdering the 34-year-old by stabbing her with a knife or similar instrument and stamping on her face on the Law in Dundee in 2001.

Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr said: "If ever there were a case outlining the need for whole life sentences, this is it.

"This is an individual who killed a woman without remorse but was set free 15 years later.

"If he had been jailed for life - no ifs, no buts - he would not have been in a position to carry out this subsequent attack.

"The Scottish Government has to review this as a matter of urgency."

A Scottish Prison Service spokesman said the organisation refuses to comment on individual cases.