LONDON (AFP) - A businessman who butchered a Chinese family of four in Britain was told he would likely die in jail as he was sentenced on Thursday for the frenzied revenge attack.

Chinese national Du Anxiang, 54, was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court in central England to life in jail with a minimum term of 40 years.

Du killed compatriot Mr Ding "Jeff" Jifeng, 46, his wife Ms Ge Chui, 47, and their daughters Xing, 18, and Alice, 12, at their home in the town on Apr 29, 2011.

A jury had on Wednesday convicted him of their murders.

The jury heard how Du "massacred" the Dings, his former business partners, in revenge after losing a 10-year legal battle over a Chinese herbal medicine business.

"These were cold-blooded murders which, in my view, were pre-meditated and were considered acts of revenge in which you wiped out an entire family," said judge Julian Flaux as he passed sentence.

"Hatred and anger and your desire for revenge was what motivated you to act as you did." He told Du: "You will grow old, if not die, in prison."

Mr Flaux said security camera footage of him travelling to the Dings' home revealed he was "calm and methodic" and "a man on a mission".

The attack was an act of "savage butchery", the judge added.

"You did not lose your self control in killing Jeff Ding - in effect you executed the man you hated.

"Not content with the slaughter of the parents downstairs, you then went upstairs to the back bedroom where the two young Ding girls were cowering."

An emergency services call from Xing's mobile phone showed they knew what was happening and were frantically trying to get help, he said.

"It is clear from their terrible haunting screams on the 999 call that it was during that call that you murdered them," said Mr Flaux.

Du fled Britain, travelling through France and Spain to Morocco, where he was arrested sleeping rough at a building site in Jul 2012. He was extradited in February.

Ding was a lecturer in the chemistry and environmental sciences division at Manchester Metropolitan University. His wife taught Mandarin part-time at a local business school.

Both hailed from Hangzhou, the capital of eastern China's Zhejiang province.

Their relatives said in a statement: "Justice has been served. The murderer Du Anxiang will spend the rest of his life in prison. No sentence, however long, can ever replace the loss of our loved ones and the pain we feel."