A SPURNED boyfriend will spend Christmas in custody after being found guilty of causing an explosion at the business of his ex-girlfriend's father.

Jurors at Bolton Crown Court deliberated for three hours before returning a unanimous verdict on Grant Smith.

It then emerged that Smith, 26, of Leyton Street, Burnley, had a string of previous convictions that started when he was 15 years old, including 18 months imprisonment in 1994 for grievous bodily harm.

Judge William Smith called for psychiatric and pre-sentence reports and will sentence Smith on January 14 next year.

The court heard Smith poured petrol through the shared letterbox of Peter's Barber's shop and John Francis Menswear, in Lea Gate, Harwood, Bolton, in February this year and dropped a lighted match into the building. It sparked an explosion causing more than £20,000 worth of damage.

The court was told that his deliberate and carefully planned mission was a revenge act against Julie Entwistle, who had ended their relationship weeks before and whose father owns the menswear shop.

The fireball missed most of the menswear shop and destroyed the built-on Peter's Barber's. The case hinged on prosecution witness Anthony Prendergast, who lived yards away from the shops and saw a man running from the scene seconds after the attack. Mr Prendergast later picked Smith in an identity parade.

Smith's defence lawyer argued that the relationship ended with both parties on good terms, but the prosecution told how Grant had plagued his ex-girlfriend with so many calls she eventually had to change her mobile phone number. Three days later her father's shop was targeted.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.