A man murdered his partner in her house by repeatedly stabbing her to death.

David Payne has been jailed for 14 years for killing Alexis Flynn at her home in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

The 42-year-old died from 11 stab wounds after the late night incident on Tuesday, April 10.

When police arrived, Payne was found sitting on the sofa smoking and having a can of beer while his partner was dead on the floor.

The killer, who had previous convictions for assault and was told not to enter Ms Flynn's house as part of his bail conditions, told officers his partner had stabbed herself to death and a knife was in her hand.

Blood stains were also found on the wall and on her clothing, suggesting Ms Flynn was struggling to get out of the flat.

Payne abused alcohol and cannabis and was said to have been unhappy with Alexis' relationship with another man.

Judge Lord Burns told Payne: "You have accepted responsibility not only for the death of your partner Alexis Flynn but also murdering her.

"It appears that the assault was a sustained one with a knife and she was found with a total of 11 stab wounds on various parts of her body inflicted with a substantial sized knife.

"The assault must have been prolonged, it's somewhat chilling you were found in the circumstances that you were found, apparently calm, smoking a cigarette, drinking a can of beer."

The court heard Payne phoned 999 at 10.20pm and said his partner was dead.

Advocate depute Liam Ewing added: "He went on to tell the call handler that the deceased was lying on the living room floor having stabbed herself multiple times on her side, stomach and back.

"He stated that she attacked him with a knife, that he had turned it back on her and the knife went into her two or three times."

When police arrived at the house, Miss Flynn was lying on the floor with stab wounds to her stomach and back.

She was in the foetal position with a large silver kitchen knife in her right hand.

Officers took the knife out of Miss Flynn's hand and started CPR but saw she had been dead for some time.

During his police interview the following day, Payne claimed Miss Flynn was attacked by a neighbour.

A post-mortem revealed Miss Flynn died of a stab wound to the leg that damaged large blood vessels which "would have caused rapid and profuse blood loss and death".

There were other stab wounds to her body including her torso, arms and left thigh while her lungs were also damaged.

The court heard the injuries to her lungs, stomach and kidney were "potentially survivable" but the stab wound on the left thigh was "catastrophic".

Injuries around her arms were said to be defensive injuries.