Peter Harry Stanton had drunk 17 brandies before filling a six-pint milk bottle with fuel and heading to the Victoria Inn in Thorne where he told a drinker: "It's going to get awful hot in there, I'm going to burn them out."

Doncaster Crown Court was told the 54-year-old was nursing a grievance against the landlord because he had been reprimanded for urinating outside the pub. Stanton, of Stanilands Marina, Lock Lane, who pleaded guilty to affray, was said to be thoroughly ashamed of what he had done and feared being sent to jail.

But Judge Graham Robinson suspended an eight-month prison sentence for a year and placed him under a 7pm to 7am curfew for the next three months.

The judge said he accepted Stanton was acting wholly out of character. He said he was entirely satisfied Stanton would not be troubling the courts again and would lead the rest of his life as a law-abiding citizen.

Prosecutor Neil Coxon said Stanton was a regular drinker at the Victoria Inn but on the evening of March 7 this year the landlady, Christine Rainey, saw him go outside for a smoke and then urinate next to the pub.

When he came back two days later licensee Alan Moore took him aside and warned him not to do it again. He became agitated and left but returned a few hours later with the bottle which smelled of petrol, and said he had come to sort out the landlord. He shouted: "You're all going to get it. Where's that Alan Moore? Let's see how big he is now."

Mr Moore, who initially thought the bottle contained urine, tried to calm him down but Stanton swung a chair around and was then brought to the ground by the landlord and other customers, said Mr Coxon.

After police detained him he admitted having drunk 17 brandy and lemonades while taking medication and had only a hazy recollection of what he had done.

Mrs Rainey later told officers: "I don't want him ever to come into our pub again" and other customers said they had been left shocked because someone could have been killed by burning fuel.

Stanton's counsel, Richard Sheldon, said: "This was drunken stupidity, there is no other way to describe it. The good news is that since that day he has not touched a drop of alcohol.

"He was dealt severe summary justice but cannot complain and he has no intention of going back to these premises."

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