Man deemed safe to be out in public stabbed former partner 45 times A man with a mental health history killed his former girlfriend in a "frenzy of violence" after psychiatrists had decided he did not need to be admitted to hospital, a court has heard. Neighbours tried bravely to save Carolyn Ellis, 32, but Douglas Lawrence, 29, inflicted 45 knife wounds with such force that the tip of the blade broke and became embedded in her skull. Another woman was stabbed in the arm before police arrived and sprayed Douglas Lawrence, 29, with CS Gas. The couple had split up about eight weeks before the attack, and Lawrence presented himself at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and confessed to having thoughts of violence towards Ms Ellis, a student. However, "it was not considered appropriate for him to be admitted to hospital," the High Court in Edinburgh was told. Lawrence sat handcuffed to a security officer in the dock at the High Court in Edinburgh today as the events of January 17 this year were described. Afterwards judge Lord Uist ordered Lawrence back to The State Hospital, Carstairs, where he has been held since his arrest. "You engaged in an awful frenzy of violence armed with a belt and a knife in the course of which you killed your former girlfriend and seriously injured another woman," the judge told Lawrence. Lawrence had been accused of murdering Ms Ellis but today his guilty plea to a reduced charge of culpable homicide was accepted. He also admitted assaulting Pauline Smith by striking her with a knife, struggling with Christeen MacKenzie and kicking her and kicking and punching Peter Scolley during the struggle. Lawrence further admitted attacking nursing assistant John Stewart on February 2 while he was being held in the State Hospital. Advocate depute Michael Stuart, prosecuting, told the court today that Lawrence had been diagnosed as suffering from a form of Asperger's Syndrome which frequently led to suffers becoming fixated on a particular subject. In the accused's case he developed, from as early as his mid teens such dominant thinking in relation to violence. Lawrence, aged 15, also spent six months in hospital after being diagnosed as schizophrenic. In spite of his problems he obtained an honours degree in philosophy from Edinburgh University, the court heard, and seemed to be managing his difficulties by living a "mundane" life. Ms Ellis suffered from borderline personality disorder as a result of childhood experiences and met Lawrence because both were psychiatric out patients. Lawrence was initially charged with murdering Ms Ellis at her flat in West Tollcross, Edinburgh, on 17 January, but his plea to the lesser offence of culpable homicide was accepted by the Crown. He also admitted assaulting three other people. He has been detained in the State Hospital at Carstairs since the incident, and Lord Uist continued the detention for further assessment until January. The judge said Lawrence had "engaged in a frenzy of violence" in which he killed his former girlfriend and seriously injured Pauline Smith, a neighbour.