Pupil at £24,300-a-year boarding school is jailed after stabbing fellow student twice in a row over soy sauce

Langley School in Loddon, Norfolk, rocked by violent episode

Minheng He, now 18, struck after boy refused to lend him the condiment

Victim was stabbed twice and lost two pints of blood

He, of Hendon, North London, locked up for four years in young offenders' institute

A pupil at a £24,000-a-year boarding school has been jailed after stabbing another student twice in a row over soy sauce.

Minheng He, a boarder at Langley School in Loddon, Norfolk, attacked the boy last October, inflicting serious wounds to his elbow and shoulder which caused him to lose two pints of blood.

He, 17 at the time but now 18, was locked up at Norwich Crown Court yesterday after admitting wounding with intent.

Violent: Minheng He, 18, has been jailed for four years in a young offenders; institute after stabbing a fellow pupil at Langley School in Loddon, Norfolk, after a row about a bottle of soy sauce

Judge Nicholas Coleman gave the Chinese thug four years in a young offenders' institute.

The judge said He had carried out a 'serious pre-meditated' attack on an 'innocent unarmed victim' whose injuries were 'appalling'.

Judge Coleman said: 'You armed yourself with a knife.

'This was a revenge attack - it was planned out of revenge.'

Andrew Shaw, prosecuting, said the victim, who was not named, was preparing a meal with a fellow student at the school at about 7.30pm last October 7 before going to the boarding quarters to eat it.

Mr Shaw said He went in and 'wanted to borrow some Soy sauce which was refused'.

The row flared when the pupil refused to lend He a bottle of soy sauce

The victim then asked He how much he was going to pay for it.

The boy meant it as a joke but the Chinese student was not amused and the two boys exchanged angry words.

Shocked eye-witnesses heard He tell his victim to 'wait where he was' before he ran off upstairs.

But nothing happened until He stormed into the boy's room at about 10.30pm that night as he did his homework.

The victim asked him to leave three times.

Mr Shaw said: 'The next thing He advanced quickly towards him with something in his hand.'

The victim then 'backed himself in towards the corner of the room where the defendant stabbed him'.

Mr Shaw said the terrified teenager 'turned his back and raised his arm to try and defend himself' and managed to push He away.

But he had already been knifed in his left arm and shoulder.

He was later seen nearby 'shouting and screaming'.

The agitated yob was breathing heavily and holding a knife with blood on the handle.

He, of Hendon, north London, was also heard to say 'I don't care any more'.

Mr Shaw said the fact the stabbing happened three hours after the soy sauce bust-up was crucial as it 'shows an element of pre-meditation'.

Staff dashed to the scene and He told one teacher he had acted because his target had insulted his mum.

The knifeman, who injured his own hand in the attack, was driven to hospital by a teacher to get treatment.

The victim was also taken to hospital and received emergency treatment for two stab wounds that went all the way to the bone in his left shoulder and left elbow.

He lost two pints of blood in the savage assault.

Jonathan Goodman, defending, said He should be given credit for his guilty plea and was of 'hitherto good character'.

Scene of the crime: Langley School in Loddon, Norfolk, which charges £24,300 a year for boarders

Mr Goodman said the 'gifted mathematician' had gone to Norfolk to learn English.

He said he had no family support network and was one of only two Chinese students who spoke Mandarin - the rest speaking Cantonese - until the other then moved on.

Mr Goodman said this meant that He, who found out his mother had ovarian cancer when he returned to China for his holidays, was left 'isolated, alone and vulnerable'.

He said he was 'extraordinarily remorseful' and is 'simply stunned by his own actions and what he did'.

Judge Coleman told He he must serve half his sentence before being released on licence.

Speaking after the case, Dominic Findlay, headteacher of Langley School, said: 'We're glad that the whole incident and ordeal is over.

'For us the fact the victim and staff were not needed for the case because of a guilty plea meant the right decision was reached.'

Langley is a co-educational day and boarding school.

The highly-rated school charges £8,100-a-term and £3,985 day fees.