A MAN who badly injured his ex-boyfriend after tricking his way into his flat has been told he faces a lengthy prison sentence.

After deliberating for six and a half hours a jury at Bolton Crown Court found 34-year-old Stephen White guilty, by a majority verdict of 10 to two, of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to his former lover.

Recorder Fiona Ashworth adjourned sentencing to February 24 but warned White: "There will be a lengthy period of imprisonment."

White, of Pinfold Close, Westhoughton had admitted injuring his ex-partner in July last year but had denied that he intentionally caused his wounds.

During a two day trial a jury of six men and six women heard how White, who had split from his boyfriend more than a year earlier, had conned his way into his apartment by pretending to be his flatmate who had forgotten his keys.

White, who had been drinking heavily, spotted his victim's flatmate during a night out at the Star and Garter pub and asked him if he was still living at the apartment.

He then whispered to the flatmate: "I am going to destroy him."

White, who claimed in court that he regularly dreamed about his ex, headed for his flat at 2.30am and pressed the intercom. When it was answered by the victim, who was awoken by the buzzer, White claimed he was the flatmate who had forgotten keys.

When the victim opened the door White, with a hoodie pulled up, punched him in the face.

"At the exact second that I realised who it was he punched me in the face," the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court..

"He casually walked into the hall, closed the door and locked it.

"Stephen was expressionless.

"The best way I can describe it is he was like a picture used on a billboard to promote a horror film.

"The calmness of it was chilling."

During a vicious assault White is said to have knelt beside his victim, put his hands around his throat and told him: "I am going to kill you."

The tussle continued in the living room and bedroom, where White smashed his former partner's phone. But when White seriously injured his ex-boyfriend, the victim told the court he feared he was going to die and so grabbed White's throat, squeezing until he lost consciousness.

"He was like a feral animal at that point. I was fending him off and fending him off," the victim said.

When White lost consciousness the victim used his dressing gown cord to tie his hands behind his back before calling police.

Recorder Ashworth told White that she was adjourning sentence to allow time for the probation service to produce a report assessing whether he should be classed as posing a risk of danger to the public.