A ‘DANGEROUS’ thug who attempted to blackmail a Chinese takeaway meal after they put peas in his meal has been jailed.

Doorman Rafike Riaz repeatedly threatened violence if not given cash, despite already being given £500, and it was only after his threats were caught on CCTV and the police called that his menacing behaviour was stopped.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Riaz had initially returned to the restaurant in a fury complaining that a meal contained peas which he had not wanted and demanding a refund.

He was given the £6.70 refund but then threw the food back covering the staff and the counter with it and the frightened employees threw a small calculator at him.

Riaz, who smelt strongly of alcohol, started trying to get through the counter hatch and was abusive and shouting.

"He pointed to his nose saying that the calculator had hit him and he wanted £1,000. He said, 'if you don't pay me the money, I'll' break all your windows and put you out of business," said Harry Pepper, prosecuting.

The staff managed to drag Riaz away and the owners, Yizhong Jiang and his wife, Fen Jiang shut the premises.

But he returned the next day, August 5, and aggressively pointed to his nose demanding £500 compensation and repeated his damage threats.

The couple handed over the cash but got him to sign a note confirming they had paid him and that he would not return.

But four days later he was back, claiming his daughter had been hospitalised for three days with food poisoning after eating their food and demanded another £500.

They refused his demands and the next night Riaz, aged 43, returned to the Dragon City on Wigan Road, Leigh, and reduced his demands to £300 claiming his partner and their two boys had also been ill because of the food.

"You don't know me, I’m dangerous", he told Fen Jiang.

They refused his demands and notified the police who tracked him down using the note he had signed.

Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, jailed him today, Friday, for two years for blackmail with six months consecutive for breaching a community order.

He also ordered him to pay £500 compensation within 18 months and imposed an indefinite restraining order to stay away from the premises and the victims and their family.

He told shaven-headed Riaz that after getting the £500 from the owners his "appetite had been whetted" and he went back for more.

"You threatened to cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to their windows, shutting them for a long time and said in terms calculated to cause, and which did cause, fear saying, 'you don't know me, I'm dangerous'."

The judge, who watched the CCTV footage, said that Riaz had tried to trivialise the incident. "It is not trivial, it is serious. What is of great concern to me is the menace with which you made these threats,” he said.

"This was appalling behaviour. People are entitled to peace and quiet when they run their business and entitled to be protected from thugs such as you."

Riaz, of Canada Street, Bolton, pleaded guilty to blackmail.