An uncooked dinner, a bottle of hooch and a pack of matches came to a predictably unhappy ending on Tuesday in Kampot.

Police said a 46-year-old, given to the hard stuff, had stumbled home only to find his dinner wasn’t waiting.

The wife’s excuse – taking their daughter to hospital – apparently held no water with the lout, who proceeded to set the house on fire.

Within minutes, the fire had reached the house next door, causing the neighbours to call the police. Our drunken protagonist made for the jungle, but didn’t get far before police slapped the cuffs on him. DEUM AMPIL