THREE terrified girls sought refuge in a Wirral shopping centre hotly pursued by a gang of teenage school-children clutching mobile phones.

Angry father Paul Fitzpatrick said his daughter Whitney Griffiths was "absolutely terror-struck" by the ordeal.

He said he was convinced that the teenagers were intent on staging a "happy slapping" incident by recording an assault on their mobiles and distributing the images to friends.

He said last night: "I have increasing evidence that a small group of girls were physically rehearsing what they were going to do to girls from another school. I am convinced that the whole thing was premeditated."

However, John White, assistant manager at Liscard's Cherry Tree Centre, where the incident took place on Friday afternoon, claimed that mobile phones were used only for talking. He said a large number of school-children had been seen heading for the centre clutching phones to their ears.

He said: "It would appear that they were using the phones to notify friends that there was going to be a fight."

He said cleaning staff had indicated to him that at no time was it apparent that anyone was using a phone for any other purpose than to talk.

Mr Fitzpatrick said he was prepared to mount a campaign against the "unacc-eptable" practice of happy slapping before a tragedy occurred.

He said: "If we don't put a stop to this, some child is going to die.

"It beggars belief that we can have a gang of schoolchildren causing mayhem at a shopping centre in pursuit of three girls."

Wirral Council education chief Cllr Phil Davies said the local authority would not tolerate "happy slapping" incidents by school pupils. He said: "It is a totally horrendous practice which I condemn unreservedly."

Mr Fitzpatrick, a 50 year-old civil servant from Liscard, added: "This could have been quite unpleasant. The girls ran to the sanctuary of the Cherry Tree Centre. My daughter fled for her life pursued by a gang of 15-year-olds. What would have happened if they had cornered her?"

Security staff at the Cherry Tree Centre intervened before the 13-year-old girls - all from Weatherhead School - were harmed.

Mr White said security staff had dealt comfortably with the situation. He said that once confronted by security officers and told there was nothing to see, the teenagers had dispersed.

Mr Fitzpatrick made a personal visit to Oldershaw School in Wallasey to talk to headmaster Steve Peach after members of the teenage gang had been identified by blazer badges.

Afterwards Mr Peach said the school had launched a "swift and thorough" investigation after being notified of the allegations.

He said in a statement: "Having spoken to eye witnesses and centre staff we are confident that this was not a major incident and Merseyside Police were not informed at the time. Oldershaw School is dedicated to honouring its social responsibility to the community and is committed to taking robust action against pupils who behave inappropriately."

Mr Fitzpatrick observed: "I can only assume there was a hard-core of pupils intent on whatever they had in mind and the rest were there because it is the latest trend to film an assault on their mobiles."