A KILLER'S sex boasts yesterday left him facing life in jail when he was convicted of rape and murder.

Michael Wade, 43, told detectives he revived an affair with County Durham divorcee Jean Whitfield, 42, 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, over three days while her lover was on night shift.

But prosecutor John Milford QC said that, after she was found drowned in her bath, the police checked on her sex life.

Denis Fallon, her live-in lover, gave detectives details which indicated Wade had lied, Teesside Crown Court heard. Forensic evidence also matched Wade's DNA.

Mr Milford said that Wade raped her and then killed her to silence her.

Wade, who roamed the North with his hold-all visiting women friends, insisted that she initiated an affair with him.

He denied her rape and murder on August 5 last year. The jury took six hours to find him guilty.

Wade, of no fixed address, was remanded in custody for psychiatric reports before sentencing.

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.

Wilden had a string of convictions for violence and had only been released from Glasgow's Barlinnie prison nine months earlier after serving a two-year sentence for assault.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Stephenson, who headed the inquiry, said: "Wilden is an evil and very dangerous character who has shown not one ounce of remorse throughout the entire investigation or trial.