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A British tourist was locked up in cockroach-infested Egyptian jail cell and feared he'd never see his family again after he was arrested for stealing sunglasses that were his own.

Thomas Greenhalgh, 33, was arrested at the Sharm el Sheikh resort at which he was staying with his partner Lyndsey, 28, and their children after a fellow guest accused him of taking his shades.

The call centre worker from Lundwood, Barnsley, said a local man made the accusation by the pool of the four-star Aqua-Blu Hotel, but left after he explained they were £3 Ralph Lauren imitations that he'd bought on a previous holiday to Turkey.

However, police arrived several days later to arrest the Englishman and his nightmare began.

Wrongly accused: Thomas Greenhalgh was jailed for two nights for stealing sunglasses in Sharm El Sheikh

The 33-year-old from Lundwood was detained for stealing sunglasses that were in fact his own

Thomas says he was taken straight to a court, found guilty and imprisoned in a windowless room with 30 other inmates and no beds where he spent two horrific nights.

He was only freed when Lyndsey, who was looking after their children Skye, five, and Summer, 18 months, pulled together £2,000 in cash for a lawyer to represent Thomas and his innocence was proven by a previous picture on his phone showing him wearing the glasses.

Thomas said: 'It was absolute hell. Everyone was speaking Arabic and I had no idea what was going on, they just kept mentioning my sunglasses and asking if I'd stolen them. 

'I thought it was a joke at first but then they put me in a cell with cockroaches flying everywhere. I thought that was it, I thought I was never going to see my family again.'

Thomas was on holiday with his partner Lyndsey, 28, and their children Summer, 18 months, and Skye, five

Thomas said he was threatened by inmates and ordered to crawl on his knees past guards.

When police arrived following the encounter with his accuser, Thomas says he 'didn't think anything of it'.

'I was on my holiday relaxing,' he said. 'The man was a guest at the hotel and came over and started talking to us in Arabic.

'We didn't understand him but a staff member translated what he was asking: "Are they your sunglasses?", to which I said "yes".

'But three days later, a police car turned up at the hotel and police officers told me I had to go with them to answer some questions.'

Lyndsey was told that Thomas would be back within an hour, but he was behind bars.

Thomas was released when his partner Lyndsey secured the services of an English-speaking lawyer

Thomas says he knew he was in trouble when police seized his passport

'We were really confused and tried to explain they were Tommy's sunglasses but they weren't listening,' she said.

'I wasn't too worried as they said they would bring him back in time for us to go out [to a pre-arranged dinner], so I was just left with the kids waiting for him to return.'

But then the hotel manager took Thomas's passport and took it to the police station.

'I was furious,' says Lyndsey, 28. 'I couldn't believe what was happening and I couldn't explain myself to anyone because of the language barrier.

'I was just alone with two small children in a foreign country. I was scared of what was going to happen to Tommy.'

Thomas soon appeared in court and was asked if he took the glasses before being returned to the 'dreadful' cell.

Thomas, holding his 18-month-old daughter summer, feared he'd never see his family again

'It was just a square room with four walls and no windows,' he siad. 'There was no air-con and it was red hot, so hot that my T-shirt was dripping with sweat. The toilet was just a hole in the wall that I had to share with 30 other prisoners.

'I was terrified because as soon as I walked in a man asked if I was American, and made me promise I wasn't, or he would cut me from head to toe.'

Before Lyndsey secured the lawyer's services, Thomas feared the worst.

He said: 'I was starting to think I was going to spend the rest of my days in that cell.

'I couldn't wait to get on a plane home, and be back with my family. I'm never going back there again.'

Lyndsey, who also works in a call centre, said the trip which cost £5,000 was 'the worst holiday of her life'.

'We'll definitely be more careful next time,' she says. 'You never know what can happen, and my girls and I could have been without Tommy for longer if it hadn't have been for that one picture.

'I don't know how we got through it, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I must have been running on adrenaline.'

Thomas says he won't be going back to Egypt.