A BURNLEY bouncer has admitted the manslaughter of his girlfriend's stepdad in a "deliberate and cold-blooded" killing.

Adrian Howker stabbed John Russell, known as Gypsy John to pals, to death as the disabled grandad refused to accept his relationship with his daughter, Preston Crown Court heard.

On the first day of his trial, Howker, 31, of Hawthorne Road, Burnley, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter on the grounds of provocation but he has denied the murder charge.

The court was told Howker, who was seeing Mr Russell's step-daughter Dawn Pinches at the time, went to the pensioner's home Narvik Avenue on December 16 armed with a knife and carrying a disposable glove.

He attacked Mr Russell and killed him before fleeing in the victim's Vauxhall Meriva. The car was found abandoned and blood-stained in the remote Thursden Valley.

The jury heard Howker killed Mr Russell as he held a grudge against the grandad for not accepting him as Mrs Pinches' new partner after the break-up of her marriage.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said: "John Henry Russell was attacked in the hallway of his home by the defendant. The cause of death was stab wounds to the heart.

"Mr Howker over-powered Mr Russell and proceeded to stab him repeatedly in the chest and to kick and stamp on his face until he was dead."

He added: "This was not a random killing, it was planned and deliberate. This was not a situation in which the defendant suddenly lost self-control. We say the killing was planned and quite deliberate.

"Howker bore a grudge against John Russell and such was the nature of that grudge he armed himself with a knife and a disposable glove and, under the cover of darkness, went to Mr Russell's home and killed him."

He added: "Mr Russell was killed in cold blood and the defendant is guilty of murder."

Mr Russell's body was found that night by Mrs Pinches' ex-husband, Nick Pinches.

A post mortem examination showed he was stabbed eight times, three penetrating the heart. He also had facial injuries and cuts to his arms, hands and throat.

After the killing, Howker tried to torch the Vauxhall Meriva and returned home to wash his clothes and shower before going to work the door at Burnley's Garden Bar.

The court heard Mr Russell's blood was found in the Vauxhall, in Howker's shower and on the stairs at his home.

(Proceeding)