Tourist Bernard Channing, 77, had been to the cinema while on holiday in  Thailand, but when the film finished a shocked guest sitting next to the pensioner noticed he was dead

A British pensioner dropped dead in a cinema while watching a horror movie.

Bernard Channing, a 77-year-old tourist from Gedling, Notts, had been to see Annabelle Comes Home last night while on holiday in Pattaya, Thailand.

But when the film finished and the lights were turned on, a shocked guest sitting next to the pensioner noticed he was dead.

The woman is said to have been ‘shaken’ at discovering the dead body and shouted for staff who rushed into the room and called the emergency services at 8pm local time.

Mr Channing was pronounced dead inside the venue and his covered body was taken away by a side door and loaded into an ambulance. 

Resident Monthira Phengrat who arrived at the cinema after the death said that guests were ‘very upset’.

She said: ‘There were some people at the entrance talking with staff. They were in the cinema where the man died and they were very upset.

‘They were shocked by what had happened. Some people had been sitting near the dead man.

‘The cinema staff were very concerned and they tried to prevent anybody from seeing what was happening. We were prohibited from taking pictures.’

Mr Channing had been sitting next to someone but it is not clear if they were together or what their relationship was. 

Police removing the Bernard Channing’s body from the cinema after he suffered a heart attack during a film

Mr Channing, from Nottinghamshire, was pronounced dead inside the cinema and his covered body was taken away in an ambulance

Mr Channing, from Nottinghamshire, was pronounced dead inside the cinema and his body was taken away in an ambulance for a post mortem examination 

Police said that his body had been taken to the hospital in the Banglamung district where a post mortem examination would be performed to establish how he died.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Polpattham Thammachat said: ‘Police were notified of the death at 8pm inside the cinema in a shopping mall.

‘From the preliminary investigation it was not known how the foreign man had died but doctors will conduct an autopsy to establish the true cause of death.

‘We are not looking for anybody else connected to the death. We do not believe there was suspicious foul play. 

The 77-year-old was pronounced dead inside the venue and had been to see horror film Annabelle Comes Home

The 77-year-old was pronounced dead inside the venue and had been to see horror film Annabelle Comes Home