Right well that wasn't too much fun. In my case the adhesive connecting the lcd/digitiser and the lcd shield/bracket had gone making opening the device quite difficult. The screen and digitizer were coming up with the suction cup but the lcd shield and the metal bracket with all the clips stayed firmly secured to the main case. My solution was to drive a flat metal prying tool on the battery side between the metal bracket and the inside wall of the main casing. Not for the faint of heart but I got there in the end.

No complaints with the rest of the repair and the iFixit replacement lightning assembly works flawlessly (my lighting port and headphone jack had become loose fitting causing headphones to easily pop out and making charging very difficult).

When all is re-assembled remember to do a hard reset to get touch ID working again as only the home button function works immediately after reassembly (security feature?). Thanks a million iFixit, this brick will live to see another year hopefully :)