Evans strangled Karen and attempted to dismember her body

Details of how Colyn Evans, 18, murdered, attempted to chop up and burn the body of his friend Karen Dewar have emerged at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The childcare student's body was found in a wheelie bin on 21 January in the seaside town of Tayport in Fife.

Evans has pleaded guilty to murder. He will be jailed for life but sentencing was deferred until next month.

The court heard how police searching Evans' home found Karen's blood and hair on the walls and carpets.

Advocate Depute David Young said Evans attacked Karen with a bread knife when he "lost the plot" following an argument.

Only-child Karen, who lived with her parents on the same street as Evans, had earlier befriended him along with a group of friends who "felt sorry" for him.

Bread knife

Karen and her friends took to visiting Evans, who lived alone in temporary accommodation, but had "stopped finding his company enjoyable" in the months leading to her murder.

Evans, who was 17 at the time, later told police that she had come to his house on 20 January and the pair had started arguing and calling each other names.

He later pushed her against a table, grabbed a knife and cut her hair and neck.

Evans attempted to strangle Karen, dragged her downstairs and submerged her in a bath full of water.

Karen had befriended Evans after feeling sorry for him

Asked why he had cut her hair, Evans said that it was getting caught in the knife while he was cutting her neck.

Mr Young told the court that Evans originally denied the student's murder.

He said: "He explained that he had loved the deceased and had nothing to do with her death."

A post mortem-examination revealed that Karen had died of strangulation.

Her body was also covered with cuts, her neck showing evidence of a "repetitive sawing motion caused by a serrated blade".

The slashes were described as "a feeble attempt to decapitate the deceased with a bread knife".

Wheelie bin

Evans pleaded guilty to attempting to dismember Karen's body before putting it in a wheelie bin and setting light to it.

The court also heard how he had taken the wheelie bin into his hallway and stuffed her body into it, head first.

Her nearly naked remains were found at about 0315 GMT after Karen's father had alerted police when she failed to return home.

Lord Philip continued the case until 10 June for reports.

He told Evans: "There is only one sentence that I can impose in this case, but before I do so I want to find out as much as I can about you."

Before moving to Tayport, Evans lived with his parents in Kennoway, Fife, where they had moved from Wales.