A man has admitted stabbing his ten-year-old son to death and trying to murder a girl.

Andrew Morris killed Kane Morris before stabbing an eight-year-old girl in Coupar Angus, Perth and Kinross in November.

Morris, 38, then stabbed himself and jumped from the roof of the house, where his son's body was found.

Morris also admitted to trying to murder an eight-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

He is currently detained in State Hospital at Carstairs near Glasgow and will be sentenced on August 12.

Kane was stabbed six times - once in the chest and five times in the back - before walking into the young girl's bedroom to try to help her, before he collapsed and died in front of her.

When questioned by detectives, Morris told them: "I was taking them to a better place away from evil."

Later he said: "I've done a horrible thing."

Judge Lord Mulholland told Morris: "It seems to me that Kane showed incredible bravery and self sacrifice rather than thinking of himself his concern was for the eight-year-old girl. For a ten-year-old boy to do that shows incredible bravery.

"The eight-year-old girl showed incredible bravery as well."

Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC said: "In the course of a meeting with psychiatrists the accused stated that he acted to protect himself and his family from some impending, but otherwise unspecified, mortal danger."

Morris, who was in the Army for five years, worked as a farmhand in a family business in Coupar Angus.

The court heard on November 11 last year, friends visited Morris and left him watching football and drinking a cup of tea shortly after midnight.

Shortly after 1.50am, Morris' niece Iona McPherson made a one-minute drunken call to him and put the phone on loudspeaker.

Mr Prentice told the court: "The accused claims to have no memory of killing one child and attempting to murder another.

"However, he said he thought he heard his niece Iona cackling on the phone and said subsequent events were blurry.

"As a result of this call, he said he acted to protect himself and his family from some impending mortal danger."

Morris was treated by paramedics as he lay injured in the street before telling them he had stabbed two children.

Efforts to get to the children were hampered because Morris had barricaded the front door.

When they got in they found the eight-year-old with stab wounds to her stomach and limbs.

Kane was lying collapsed outside the bedroom she had been sleeping in.

He 3.24am while the girl suffered a collapsed lung and spent four weeks in hospital.

The killer had five stab wounds, a fractured left femur, a fracture of his pelvis and rib injuries which were all self-inflicted.

Following the death, Kane's family said he was a young boy who was "loved dearly by all".

They said: "Kane was a popular young boy within the community, he was full of energy and loved dearly by all.

"As you can understand, this is a devastating experience for us as a family. Although we appreciate all your well wishes, we ask for privacy at this highly sensitive time."