A COMPANY is asking for the public's help to recover projection equipment it says was stolen from Lyme's burnt out cinema.

Scott Cinemas posted on Facebook that projection equipment was taken from the Regent Cinema in Broad Street and is appealing for information from the public.

The company said: "Unfortunately early last week, We had a break-in to the cinema site.

"Whilst we have removed most of what was still on site in foyers, we hadn't yet got around to removing items from projection. This meant that thieves attempted to strip down components in projection, and take some of them as well, meaning that all of our remaining projection equipment that might have been usable, now isn't.

"We would absolutely welcome our neighbours in Lyme keeping their eyes out in case anything is spotted for sale second hand in the surrounding area. One particular item that was stolen, was a Dolby CP750 digital sound processor. These are very specialist pieces of equipment worth several thousand pounds that are not sold on the domestic market - they are only sold to cinemas, theatres, production houses and each machine is licensed to the venue in which it was originally installed.

"We're also missing a couple of power amplifiers and additional sound processing gear."

A spokeswoman from Dorset Police said the force had no record of a theft at the Regent Cinema. No-one from Scott Cinemas was available for comment when contacted by the Bridport & Lyme Regis News.