Mother's 'horror show' as Facebook gatecrashers invade birthday party

A mother told how her daughter's 16th birthday party descended into an "absolute horror show" when about 300 people gatecrashed her luxury home after it was advertised on Facebook.

One hundred people were invited via an online invitation list to the party, inspired by the MTV reality series My Super Sweet 16, which documents wealthy teenagers preparing their coming-of-age parties.

After Georgina Hobday's parents, Michael and Sylvia, left their four-storey townhouse in Brighton, East Sussex, to allow genuine guests to enjoy themselves, Mr Hobday was called by police on his mobile phone, telling him the party was out of control.

Mrs Hobday told the Brighton Argus: "It was an absolute horror show. I will never have a party for my daughter here again. She had no idea who most of the people were and they were rampaging through the house.

"The garden has been ruined, the grass is mud, people were walking through the pond and I heard one boy was trying to headbutt the mirror. Some people were climbing up the balcony and trying to get through the windows. My floor was blackened with dirt and there were cigarette burn marks around the bottom of the door.

"When I left the house, there was no alcohol in the house but when I came back there were beer cans and vodka bottles everywhere. I think Facebook is a major cause, as well as texting. I heard that a Bluetooth alert was going round saying 'hot party close to the Seven Dials'."

Four adult friends of Georgina's parents were asked to keep an eye on the party but it was said they could only watch as the gatecrashers rampaged through the house on Saturday night.

Inspector Andy Richardson, of Sussex Police, said: "There was a sea of people, the place was overrun and it was difficult to move, which was a major safety problem that required a lot of police time and resources.

"We eventually got the unwanted guests out at about 11pm."

No arrests were made, a police spokeswoman said.

"To all intents and purposes, the parents did the right thing by getting adults to, in effect, act as bouncers. They invited a large number of people but as soon as word got out on Facebook that there was a party in the area, the place got overrun with people.