Cinema goers '˜thought the worst' as man threatened to kill them at Portsmouth film screening

Members of the audience who were watching the remake of The Ring in The Vue Cinema, in Gunwharf Quays, said a man entered the theatre drunk and was causing a disturbance throughout the film - but staff failed to remove him from the cinema.

At the end of the film, he pulled out a metal object with one witness, who wished not to be named, said he said ‘one of you has got to die before you can leave.

The 23-year-old women said: ‘People were climbing up the seats to get out.

‘We huddled together and people were jumping over the balcony.

‘We had to run past him to get out.

‘I did not know what was happened and was expecting the worst.’

Elliot Venables, 20, a drama and performance student at the University of Portsmouth, said: ‘The cinema were not checking tickets which they are supposed to do.

‘We all froze and had to go over the seats. I ran as fast as I could and did not even look back.

‘I thought “he is going to stab me, I am going to die.”

A spokesman for Vue said: ‘Our team responded to a customer complaint that another customer was causing a disturbance during a late screening of a film on Tuesday, February 7.

‘After assessing the situation, police were called and the man was arrested. We apologise to those customers whose experience was affected and would urge them to contact our customer service team.’

Hampshire Constabulary confirmed a flat piece of metal was found.

Steven James Conlon, 29, of no fixed address was charged with using threatening, abusive, insulting words and behaviour with intent to cause fear of and provoke unlawful violence and violent behaviour at a police station.

He appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on February 9.