Two teenagers have been found guilty of murder after a vulnerable drug addict was brutally stabbed to death in his own home.
Leigh Smith, 48, was knifed seven times, before neighbours found him having bled to death in his flat in Eccles.
Drug dealer Jacob Cookson, 18, and a 17-year-old boy were unanimously convicted of murder.
Another 17-year-old boy was found not guilty.
Prosecutors said the killing was fuelled by revenge, after Cookson had been attacked by another man in Mr Smith's house days earlier.
Cookson believed Mr Smith had set him up, they said.
The pair face life sentences after being convicted following a trial at Minshull Street Crown Court.
Mr Smith, who was affectionately known as Leroy, was a victim of 'cuckooing', where criminals take over when drug dealers take over someone's home.
His flat was one of a number which Cookson had taken control of to use for his dealing.
Mr Smith had battled drug addiction, and although he had found new accommodation and things seemed to be 'looking up' for him, he had recently started using drugs again.
He also appeared to be selling drugs on behalf of two dealers, to fund his habit.
Almost a week before he was found dead, Mr Smith was in his flat with a friend, who was smoking crack cocaine, which Cookson had sold him.
Cookson had an argument with the man and was 'violently assaulted' by him, leaving him needing hospital treatment after being hit over the head with a radio.
He went to Salford Royal hospital covered in blood.
On the same day, Mr Smith was also attacked.
In a text message to a friend he said: "I've just been done in really bad with a hammer.
"I've got no teeth I'm gutted, two black eyes as well."
He told a housing officer who had helped him get his new flat about the attack.
She alerted police, who went to check on him.
Mr Smith refused to cooperate with police, and told them that their visit was 'gonna get me killed'.
He didn't name his attackers but said that 'Salford gangsters who he had been in trouble with had access to firearms'.
While the officers were at his house, he received a call.
"It’s him. He knows you’re here," Mr Smith said.
He asked police to leave, and he refused to help when they came back the day after.
CCTV footage recovered on June 21 showed the defendants, and another man who has not been identified, heading towards Mr Smith's flat on Cook Street.
About two minutes later, the same group was seen running away from the flats.
The next morning, at about 7am, a neighbour saw the door to Mr Smith's flat was ajar.
He was found lying in a pool of blood on his living room floor, after being stabbed seven times to his legs and buttocks.
Cookson and the 17-year-old boy had denied murder.
They are due to be sentenced next week.
