Face of Nation : Peter Cameron, 38, repeatedly wounded his victims in the unprovoked assault as they were getting ready to return to Northern Ireland after a short break in the city.
Cameron stabbed Bernadette Lester 10 times in a four-second burst of violence as she stood outside her hotel with her friend Gillian Clarke.
Mrs Clarke was then stabbed twice in the cheek and sustained injuries to her tongue and mouth as he turned to target her.
An employee from the Apex Hotel, in the Grassmarket, was also wounded by the knifeman as he went to the aid of the guests during the horrifying attacks, which were captured on CCTV.
On Tuesday, a judge deferred sentence on Cameron for the preparation of a background report and risk assessment until next month.
Lady Scott said she was concerned about the potential risk that Cameron posed to the public and he was detained in custody.
Nurse Mrs Clarke said she and Mrs Lester went outside for a cigarette in the early hours of the morning of November 8 last year after returning to the Apex Hotel following a meal.
Mrs Clarke, 58, said they were having a conversation at an alley at the premises when a man appeared before her friend Mrs Lester, who works for a health trust in Northern Ireland, told him to “move on”.
She told the High Court in Edinburgh that he walked away but she heard her friend say: “Jesus, Gillian he is coming back.”
Mrs Clarke said: “The attack just happened so fast. It was frenzied.” She thought she received two quick punches but realised she was bleeding.
She said: “I lay down because I am a nurse and I knew I was bleeding very heavily. I took the black scarf that was round my neck and put it to my cheek and put pressure on it. My tongue was also bleeding and I was choking on the blood.”
She said: “I remember shouting ‘Bernie I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding’ but Bernie shouted ‘so am I’.”
Mrs Lester, 61, said: “I was stabbed once behind my right arm, twice on my right shoulder, once on my chest, once behind my right ear and had five defensive wounds on my left hand that were stitched and one that wasn’t stitched.”
During the trial Cameron admitted attempting to murder Mrs Lester by repeatedly striking her on the head, neck and body with the knife to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of her life on November 8 last year at a vennel beside the hotel.
He also admitted assaulting hotel worker Neil Robertson, who went to the aid of the women, by striking him with the knife to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Cameron, who has an extensive criminal record for violence, further admitted assaulting Mrs Clarke to her severe injury and permanent disfigurement by striking her on the head with the weapon, but denied attempting to murder her. A jury unanimously convicted him of the murder bid on Tuesday.
Unemployed Cameron, of Shandwick Place, Edinburgh, was acquitted of further charges of illegal possession of the knife and attempting to pervert the course of justice by disposing of the weapon and items of clothing after the attacks after the Crown withdrew the charges.
The knife was found dumped in a bin in Johnstone Terrace with blood traces from the women victims.
Mrs Lester said she and her friend arrived in Edinburgh on November 5 and were due to fly home on November 8.
On their final evening in the city they went for dinner in the Grassmarket, before going to a bar and returning to their hotel. They got changed into pyjamas but decided to go back downstairs and went out a side door to have a cigarette.
She said: “We were talking to each other and suddenly this man appeared.” She said her friend was hunkered down against a wall and the man bent over the top of her.
Mrs Lester said: “He wasn’t saying anything. It sounded like mumbling to me. No words were clear. He then came up to me and stared me out and I told him to ‘move on’.”
She said the man moved off but stopped and turned. She said: “I turned to Gillian and said ‘I think he is coming back’. I felt I hardly had those words out of my mouth until I was being attacked. I felt I was being beaten up.”
Mrs Clarke said that during the incident Mr Robertson came out the side door and tried to stop the man attacking her and her friend, but he got hurt.
Mr Robertson said he looked out from the hotel and saw one of the women pinned up against a barrier. He said: “I started shoving the door to get out and also hitting the person with the door to try and get them away.He said the man appeared “very angry” and he stepped out to try to calm the situation but was attacked. “I tried to convince him to step away from the ladies altogether. I thought he was just punching until he lunged at me and hit me. That’s when I realised it was a knife,” he said.
Mr Robertson said he was struck on the left hand and suffered a stab wound to muscle tissue and later received stitches.
