A KNIFEMAN stabbed his best pal on the throat in a fit of rage over explicit messages the man had sent to his girlfriend.

James Mitchell subjected his victim to a terrifying ordeal lasting 'several hours'.

He hillingly told him: "You're dying tonight."

The 46-year-old inflicted multiple injuries on the man after turning up at his Greenock home with the six-inch long weapon.

Mitchell — who first met his victim through the Salvation Army — also knifed him on the stomach during the prolonged assault.

The town's sheriff court heard how the man cried out: "You cut my artery!"

Prosecutor Emma Jeffrey said: "The accused replied, 'That's not all I'm going to do — you're dying tonight'."

Mitchell is today behind bars facing a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty to repeatedly striking the man on the throat and body with the knife.

He also admitted seizing the man's throat, pushing him onto a chair, presenting the knife at him, holding it at his neck and repeatedly threatening violence.

Police were alerted by the injured man's mother after he spoke to her in the aftermath of the attack at his flat on Roxburgh Street.

Mitchell further tormented his victim by phoning him while he was receiving treatment at Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

But he hadn't bargained on officers being there and the man putting the call on loud speaker for them to hear.

Fiscal depute Miss Jeffrey said: "The accused asked, 'When you coming to look at these messages?'

"He also said, 'You're lucky you're in hospital, lucky to be alive — I'm going to shoot you'.

"The complainer said, 'It was your plan to murder me last night, wasn't it?'

"The accused replied, 'Yeah, it was'."

But when police caught up with Mitchell, of Kelly Street, he insisted: "I went round there with a knife just to frighten him."

His bloodstained clothing and the blade — which still had the victim's blood on it — were seized.

On being cautioned and charged Mitchell stated: "I never done it."

His lawyer, Gerry Keenan, told the court that Mitchell had 'reacted poorly'.

Mr Keenan said: "This man is mentally ill, and there is a significant diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

"The complainer is a person he regarded as a friend.

"It appears that he was unhappy about the manner in which the complainer conducted himself in relation to his long term partner.

"Lewd comments were made surreptitiously to her via an iPad and the messages sent were exhibited to Mr Mitchell just prior to the incident."

Mr Keenan added: "He had evidence that the trust he had with the complainer was spectacularly breached.

"Anyone confronted with that breach would be upset by it."

The court was told that Mitchell's victim had cuts on his neck, right forearm and the right upper area of his abdomen and that all were described by a doctor as 'minor' wounds following the attack on February 20 last year.

Sheriff Andrew McIntyre said: "This is an exceptionally serious charge."

He revoked Mitchell's bail and remanded him in custody ahead of a sentencing hearing set for March 6.