A family have opened up about their TUI holiday from hell as they revealed an intruder tried to break into their hotel room.
Leanne and Dean Louis and their four children were looking forward to their first trip abroad, and had splashed out on an all-inclusive holiday to the Aqua Mirage Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco.
But the family revealed they were left terrified after spotting 'a black shape' inside their bedroom just days in, reports LancsLive.
Only a few days into the holiday, Leanne claims she awoke to see a shadowy figure of a man inside their hotel room. And when Dean got up to investigate, the man reportedly ran out of the front door.
But Leanne was left horrified by what she saw, and banged on the wall to alert the children who had been sleeping next door. Left petrified by the ordeal, as she banged with so much force that her knuckles bled.
And the incident left the whole family so scared, that they were unable to sleep or enjoy the rest of their time abroad.
Speaking out about the moment, Leanne, who runs a sweets business in Lancaster, said: "It was like in Scream when you see the black shadow go past. It was terrifying."
The family had spent the day within the hotel complex and before going to sleep, Leanne said she made sure all the doors and windows were locked.
On the first day, she said the patio door had no handle but could be prised open, while it was fully locked the second day and by the next, a new handle had been fitted while they were outside the room, explaining: "I fell asleep and then 10-20 minutes later I was like 'what the hell?'. At first I didn't know if I was dreaming and then I noticed the curtain and the door was wide open and said to Dean 'you need to wake up'.
"Dean's jumped out of bed, I could see there was a black shape and when Dean moved, they've gone to the front door and ran out."
When the commotion was over, the couple noticed that the family's swimwear - which had been laid out to dry - had been knocked to the floor and the safe had been opened. Luckily, they had not used it.
However, their son's Nintendo Switch had also been moved outside of the room.
According to Leanne, the hotel security refused to believe what had happened and watched on silently as he banged on the room's walls.
She said they showed where the bushes outside their room had been trampled, but no one at the hotel offered any help.
And while the reception staff assured them that security would monitor their room, Leanne claims she never saw them again.
The couple's friend said that she heard a woman upstairs screaming later that night and had allegedly seen someone running past her room.
Leanne said the family were left terrified and that the kids - who are aged 8 to 13 - did not sleep properly for the rest of the holiday, adding: "We were all traumatised.
"It ruined the whole holiday because we didn't want to do anything, we were just so traumatised and tired with it all.
"They tried to say it was someone from the outside but if you're security's as good as you say, and it is good with massive metal gates, how was somebody getting in?"
The family spoke with a TUI rep the following morning who took a statement.
On their last day, the family say they were told the CCTV backed up what they said and that the matter had been referred to the local police.
Leanne and Dean hope to take the kids away again to make up for the sorry experience but they do not plan to return to Morocco. "In the hotel, we felt like we were in a normal place with good nightlife bit as soon as you step outside the complex, it was like a warzone.
"It was my family's first holiday, they'd never been abroad before. It was a holiday from hell."
TUI have been contacted for a comment by The Mirror.
