A MAN who raped a divorcee and drowned her in a bath to silence her was yesterday sentenced to life.

Michael Wade, 43, had told detectives he revived an affair with Jean Whitfield when he traced her five years after they parted.

He gave detailed descriptions of sex sessions he claimed to have had in her ground-floor flat in Plover Lodge, Birtley, County Durham, over three days while her lover was on night shift.

But his sex boasts proved his downfall, when Denis Fallon, her live-in lover, gave details which indicated Wade had lied, Teesside Crown Court was told last year.

Wade, of no fixed abode, denied raping and murdering Ms Whitfield on August 5, 1999, but a jury returned a verdict of guilty after six hours deliberation.

The crimes were committed nine months after he was released from a two-year sentence for assault.

After the trial, police revealed their hunt for the killer had been hampered because Wade had changed his name six years ago to George Wilden.

As a result, no information was found on police databases, even though witnesses kept on referring to Mick Wade.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Bennett, sitting at Sheffield Crown Court gave Wade two life sentences