A CRAZED supermarket customer knocked a Tesco manager out cold during a drink and drug-fuelled rampage through the store after staff stopped him stealing booze.

Lee Mansfield went berserk when he was confronted as he tried to pinch a bottle of the Italian liqueur Disaronno.

As well as knocking out Nick Gambetta and breaking his nose, he also bit the leg of Stewart Bray and spat in the face of another employee.

Tony Trigg, prosecuting, said the pandemonium spilled out of the Ystrad Mynach store onto the busy road outside where he continued the violence.

The 39-year-old also flung a traffic cone at other workers before they managed to bring him under control and he was arrested.

Mr Trigg told Cardiff Crown Court: “The defendant was spotted on CCTV acting suspiciously and was then seen trying to remove a security label from a bottle of alcohol.

“The store manager approached him and asked him to leave. He was punched in the face and knocked to the floor and was unconscious for at least a few seconds.

“It was a few minutes before he came to his senses. His nose had been broken.

“There was a struggle and the defendant was throwing punches before Mr Bray was bit on the leg.

“They chased him as he ran out of the store and he picked up a traffic cone and swung it at Chris Halsey.

“The defendant spat at another employee who could feel the spit going into his mouth.”

The prosecutor said staff were left “shocked and distressed” following the chaos.

Mansfield pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm and the theft of alcohol and make-up.

The offences were committed on May 19, 2018.

Mr Trigg said the defendant had 22 convictions for 49 offences.

Mansfield was jailed for 10 years this March at Newport Crown Court after being convicted of arson with intent to endanger life.

That was for trying to torch a flat knowing his partner, her father, and a friend were inside, telling police he had "every intention" of killing them, and was prepared to serve 20 years in prison.

He set fire to his T-shirt before posting it through the letterbox at Hengoed Road in Cefn Hengoed where the three people were drinking on November 9 last year.

When the trio made their escape, they found Mansfield outside laughing and trying to block their way.

When one of them confronted him, he attacked him, putting his fingers in an eye in what his victim believed was an attempt to gouge it out.

Dan Griffiths, mitigating, said of the bedlam in Tesco: “He clearly committed these offences when addicted to drink and drugs.

“He acted in a totally deplorable manner and wishes to apologise to the members of staff.”

After Judge Christopher Vosper QC ordered him to serve a further eight months in custody on top of his 10-year term, the defendant said to him: “Thank you your honour, that’s very kind of you. You’re a gentleman.”

Mansfield, whose current address is Swansea Prison, must also pay a victim surcharge upon his release from jail.