• The harrowing ordeal took place in a supermarket in Torrevieja
• The incident began when the mother and father set off an alarm at the till
• Security gate barriers failed to detect any stolen items.
• The situation escalated when the guards took the pair to an office
• They claim they were spat on before being assaulted
  

By Ted Thornhill

PUBLISHED: 12:02 EST, 9 January 2014 | UPDATED: 12:34 EST, 9 January 2014

Shocking footage has emerged of a mother and father being brutally assaulted by two burly supermarket security staff while on holiday in Spain, having been falsely accused of stealing.

The film was shot covertly by the couple’s young daughter on her mobile phone and also witnessed by their son, who was distraught and ‘inconsolable’ over what he saw.

The attack, the father has said, left him fearing for his life.

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The astonishing incident took place at a Carrefour store in the Spanish seaside resort of Torrevieja over the Christmas holidays.

It began when the parents, from France, activated an alarm at the till.

Under suspicion of stealing, they were told to walk back and forth through security gates, but the alarm on these remained silent.

However, rather than being allowed to leave, the situation dramatically escalated.

They claim that they were taken into a room and spat upon – and then physically attacked.

What happened next left the mother and father needing hospital treatment.

The guards refuse to believe that the pair are innocent and, as the footage shows, grapple with them very roughly. At one point a guard appears to punch the mother several times.

The father was restrained by a choke hold and is clearly in pain.

He told El Mundo: 'They grabbed my neck and I thought I was going to die in Spain.’

His wife said: ‘My youngest child couldn't stop crying, I couldn't console him.

‘If they had found something, well that's different, but I didn't have anything. They looked everywhere and didn't find anything.’

The pair were treated at a local hospital before complaining to the local police.

They were forced to wait several days before the matter could be dealt with because officials couldn’t find a translator.

The security firm the guards work for has yet to comment, but the supermarket that uses its services has asked for a response after acknowledging that the assault took place.