Girls left in tears after being dragged out of cinema by staff who called 999 after wrongly believing the 12-year-olds were filming The Hunger Games on their iPads 

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Tanith Lawrence, 12, was with a group of friends on a trip to see the Hunger Games when they were wrongly accused of filming the movie

A group of 12-year-old girls were left in tears after being hauled out of a cinema by police when staff falsely accused them of recording The Hunger Games on their mobiles and iPads.

The seven children, who attend one of the country’s leading independent girls’ schools, were quizzed after staff dialled 999 and reported the allegation as an ‘emergency’.

Officers in two police patrol cars responded with flashing blue lights and rushed to the Cineworld cinema in Brighton Marina, East Sussex.

The sobbing friends, who had been watching The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, were marched out and accused of breaking copyright laws by making illegal recordings.

But when officers examined the distressed girls’ mobile phones they could not find any evidence of wrongdoing and the children were released.

However, four of the girls were too traumatised to go back into the cinema and were left to wait sobbing outside in the dark for their parents to pick them up at the end of the 12A certificate film as arranged.

Louise Lawrence, 52, of Saltdean, Brighton, whose daughter Tanith was among the group said the parents only discovered what had happened when they arrived to collect the girls.

‘I feel absolutely furious about it,’ she said. ‘Three of the girls didn’t even have mobile phones. They were separated and interrogated by the police. These are children who have never had any contact with the police before, so they were absolutely terrified. Afterwards my daughter said to me, “Mummy I was too frightened to even cry”.’

Sussex Police have since apologised for any upset caused and sent a sergeant to the girls’ £30,000-a-year school to explain why they decided to attend the incident.

However some of the parents have now written to Cineworld to complain about the treatment and the cinema’s refusal to refund the children for missing the film.

Mrs Lawrence, who runs a coffee shop in Brighton, added: ‘What worries me most is that it was around 7.30pm and it was pitch black. 

‘Some of the girls were standing outside in tears and alone yet nobody at Cineworld checked to see if they were okay afterwards.

‘Neither the police nor cinema staff had bothered to call their parents after the incident, even though they knew they were children and only 12 years old.

‘The police have apologised and put things right by visiting the girls’ school but the cinema has done nothing and has refused to refund the children or apologise. 

A group of seven 12-year-old girls were left in tears after they were hauled out of the cinema by police and wrongly accused of filming a screening of The Hunger Games on their smartphones and iPads

Staff at Cineworld said it took its responsibility to protect copyright seriously but has apologised to the girls 

‘The girls together must have spent at least £100 on their tickets, popcorn and drinks and they didn’t even get to enjoy the film which was something they had been terribly excited about.’

She went on to say: ‘You expect the cinema would have some sort of duty of care or some policy in place while dealing with minors.

‘Our girls were falsely accused, had the police called on them and then just left in tears. It’s outrageous. If they have done this to our children they will do it again.’

A spokesman for Cineworld insisted the cinema chain had contacted the parents and ‘apologised for the distress caused’.

She added: ‘While we regret that the customers felt distressed, we are confident that the correct procedures were followed.

‘If our staff see such behaviour we expect them to notify the cinema management immediately and to call the police. However, we have taken on board the concerns expressed by the parents and we are reviewing how the policy is applied to younger customers.’