Gave the car to my mate who gratefully took it for his young family.
he took it to his local garage and turns out the camshaft timing sensor was clogged up and misreading.
I had changed the inlet and outlet cam sensors but not the camshaft sensor.
an engine flush and clean, new oil and spark plugs, a good service and it’s off like a scalded cat! Cost wise it was about £300 to sort.
happy days!