Two people arrested on suspicion of illegal recording at Sunderland cinema

Two men have been arrested at a Sunderland cinema on suspicion of possession of an illegal audio recording of a newly-released film.

The pair, aged 19 and 44, were apprehended by police at the Empire Cinema on March 10, at the end of a screening of The Divergent Series: Allegiant 2016.

The move came following an investigation by Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), assisted by the film's producers and distributors and the Motion Picture Association.

There have been three previous illegal audio recordings at this cinema.

The men have been released on bail whilst enquiries continue and they are excluded from any cinema in England and Wales as part of bail conditions.

FACT say, illegal recording of films in cinemas is the most prevalent method criminals use to capture the latest film releases. High cinema security in many countries forces them to seek the English language audio to synchronise with a foreign language version of the film.

The organisation works in partnership with the Film Distributors’ Association (FDA) to protect films shown in UK cinemas, through close engagement with cinema operators and the UK Cinema Association.