A THUG brutally knifed a man who apparently made a jibe about his mum.

Michael Gardiner slashed his victim right down his chest outside the Guildhall and Linen Exchange pub in Dunfermline on November 13.

A judge heard how the victim was struck just millimetres from vital organs.

Gardiner today (Wednesday) admitted assaulting the man to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger of life.

The 37-year-old – who already had a long history of violence – was remanded in custody at the High Court in Glasgow pending sentencing next month.

Gardiner blew a kiss and shouted “love you” to a number of relatives as he was led to the cells.

The hearing was told how both men knew each other.

The victim was standing outside the Wetherspoons pub when a raging Gardiner confronted him.

After punching him, Gardiner apologised and the complainer “thought there would be no further trouble”.

Prosecutor Chris McKenna explained the thug then returned and it appeared he was going to shake the man's hand.

But, instead Gardiner stabbed the man, who soon asked a friend to call an ambulance.

The attacker yelled as he fled: “You better not grass on me.”

The victim needed surgery for a large wound to his chest.

Mr McKenna said: “It was millimetres away from organs. It had the potential to be fatal.”

Gardiner was later traced and stated to police: “Who said I was at Wetherspoons? It was not me.”

His lawyer said Gardiner had been the victim of a murder bid earlier in 2019 and that the complainer was an associate of the man later jailed for the crime.

Last October drug dealer Leonard Taylor was sentenced to seven years in prison after attempting to murder Gardiner at a house in Halbeath on April 1, 2019. 

He was stabbed in the neck, went into cardiac arrest, stopped breathing and needed emergency treatment. 

At the high court today, Gordon Martin, defending, added: “Had this latest case gone to trial, there would have been evidence that (the complainer) was being less than complimentary about Gardiner's mother.

“However, that does not justify what Gardiner did.”

Judge Johanna Johnston QC deferred sentencing for reports.

She told Gardiner: “You have accepted responsibility for a vicious attack upon another man.

“I have seen the photos – Mr Reid was cut from his chest to below his hip.”