A man who smashed his way into his ex-girlfriend’s flat and battered her new boyfriend with a hammer is behind bars awaiting sentence.

Tommy Johnson claimed it was the victim who had first attacked him with a weapon, but a jury today convicted of aggravated burglary with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.

The victim suffered fractures to his skull and cheekbone and deep wounds to his head in the frenzied assault.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Johnson had been in an on-off six-year relationship with Georgina Rollings and they had a child together.

They parted in January last year but Johnson, 27, became jealous after Miss Rollings started seeing her new boyfriend.

Johnson, from Dartford, took their son back to the flat in Swanscombe on November 2 last year and asked Miss Rollings if he was staying there.

She replied that he wasn’t but it had nothing to do with him.

“The defendant was a long way from letting go of her and letting her get on with her life,” said prosecutor Simon Blackford.

"You have been convicted of a very serious allegation...the only issue is the length of sentence" - Judge Julian Smith

Johnson and his rival agreed to meet for a fight on November 5.

During it, the man claimed Johnson bit a chunk out of his ear.

The next evening the man was lying down at the flat with painful ribs from the fight when he was awoken by the sound of breaking glass.

Johnson used a hammer to smash the glass his way through both the external and internal doors.

He burst into the bedroom and started hitting his victim on the head with the hammer. When Miss Rollings tried to intervene, she was also allegedly hit.

He ran into the room where the young child was sleeping but Johnson followed and continued to hit him repeatedly. He eventually ran off.

The victim was taken to a London hospital and treated for fractures to his skull and left cheekbone. He needed 15 stitches in head wounds.

Johnson, of Bexley Lane, Dartford, denied aggravated burglary but was convicted by a 10-2 majority after jurors deliberated for more than eight hours.

He was acquitted of three separate charges of assaulting Miss Rollings.

Robin Ghosh, defending, made a plea for bail on the basis Johnson wanted to explain what had happened to his nine-year-old son from another relationship.

But Judge Julian Smith said: “No, bail is withdrawn. It is his responsibility to explain it to his son, not mine. I am concerned to ensure there is no further difficulty.”

Adjourning sentence until July 14, he told Johnson: “You have been convicted of a very serious allegation. The only issue is the length of sentence.”