A pupil at a £24,000 ($36,441)-a-year boarding school has been jailed after twice stabbing another student 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, causing 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 to wounding with intent.

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 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.

Shaw said He went in and wanted to borrow some soy sauce.

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.

But nothing happened until He stormed into the boy's room at about 10:30pm that night. The victim asked him to leave three times before backing into a corner of the room where the defendant stabbed him.

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."

Jonathan Goodman, defending, said He should be credited for his guilty plea and was of "hitherto good character."

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.