A Tyneside businessman faces jail after he conned a bank manager into giving his company a £100,000 overdraft - then spent the money himself.

Slick Norman Wright, 49, convinced Midland Bank manager Nigel Bowers his clients were due to invest thousands of pounds into his firm so the bank would agree the advance.

By the time the Gosforth branch of the bank, now HSBC, became suspicious Wright had frittered away more than £116,000 in 18 months.

Wright denied ten charges of forgery, false accounting, theft and deception, but was found guilty by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Guy Whitburn, QC, told Wright he had carried out a clever and devious fraud to enable him to live extremely well at the bank's expense and warned him he faced a lengthy prison term.

The court had beard how Wright, of Mill Crescent, Hebburn, South Tyneside, started his scam after setting up a corporate events organisers business in 1997 under the name of MacMillan, Palmer and Wright.

The police arrested Wright and seized his accounts at the firm's offices at Aston House, Redburn Road, Westerhope, Newcastle.

Judge Whitburn adjourned sentence for the preparation of reports.