A young chef stood between two gas cylinders, doused in petrol, with a box of matches and threatened to blow up a pub.

Stephen Young, 20, the former head chef at the Lamb and Flag, in Longworth, stood in the pub garden twisting the tops off two propane gas cylinders, threatening to blow everyone up as police blocked off the road.

A jury at Oxford Crown Court had found him guilty of affray and threatening to damage property during the incident.

Jonathan Coode, defending, said Young had come under enormous strain after his stepfather walked out of the pub he and his mother ran. He described Young's behaviour as 'extremely foolish'. He said that and

He said seeing Young doused in petrol between the two cylinders with a box of matches must have been extremely frightening. added that the public and the police had been inconvenienced because officers had had to close off the road. But he said Young was remorseful and hoped to rejoin the Army, in which he had once serve, once he was able. Judge Anthony King told Young: "What you did was irresponsible, juvenile and inconsiderate and caused a great deal of fear to other people and a great expense to the public at large.

"It was a histrionic display, which if you had been behaving properly would never have happened...

"I don't think you are fundamentally a bad person but you committed an extremely stupid act."

He ordered Young to do 100 hours community service and pay £910 in costs.

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