A MAN who ran amok in a Chinese restaurant in retribution for an unpaid debt was jailed for eight months yesterday.

Wain Yang Tang told customers to leave before throwing paint and creosote round the Jumbo Buffet, in Durham.

Staff believed the liquid was petrol, and feared he would ignite it if they intervened, Durham Crown Court was told.

Chris Williamson, prosecuting, said Tang left the North Road premises with £925 from the till, plus a bottle of champagne and a keg of beer.

Police visited his house the following day and found the money and creosote-stained clothing.

Tang made a full admission, saying that he intended to destroy the restaurant.

He said that he abandoned the keg in North Road, but took the champagne home to celebrate what he had done.

Mr Williamson said that invoices for repairs came to £30,898.

Mark Styles, mitigating, described Tang as a thoroughly respectable man, of previous good character.

Mr Styles said Tang's wife was a sleeping partner in the Jumbo Buffet and the couple relied on the £500-a-week she received from the business.

But, after a dispute between the partners, the payments stopped, so Tang took cash from the till, as he regarded it as money owed to his wife.

Tang, 33, of Prince of Wales Close, South Shields, admitted theft and criminal damage.

Recorder Julian Hallam said that, despite the background, Tang took matters into his own hands to such a serious extent that a non-custodial sentence could not be justified.