A British teen whose parents were left with a £20 000 bill after a party advertised on the MySpace social networking website got out of control apologised to them on Friday.
Rachael Bell (17) claimed that her web page was hacked into by friends who posted an invitation to a ”trash the average-sized family house disco party”, prompting teenagers laden with alcohol to descend from around the country.
Her mother, Elaine, whose wedding dress was urinated on by revellers, discovered the damage after returning from a caravanning holiday with husband Alan and described it as a ”house rape”.
Rachael is in hiding and too ashamed to face her parents, but she penned an apology in Friday’s edition of her local newspaper, the Sunderland Echo.
”It was just supposed to be a party with a few friends and it turned into a complete nightmare. I’m sorry, mam,” she wrote.
When people she did not recognise started turning up, she bolted the door, ”but they just started climbing through the window”, Rachael added.
”There were even 11-year-olds trying to get in. I just had a panic attack because of everything that was going on,” she said. ”I was going to tidy up after the party — I thought I had a couple of days to clean the house before my parents got back. Then the ex-neighbour came and told me my mam was on her way home and everyone had better clear out — and I left.”
Rachael added a warning to anyone who might be tempted to advertise their party on MySpace that ”the sites can be hacked”.
Elaine, a 48-year-old teacher, warned her daughter not to have ”any kids or drink in the house” in Woodstone Village, county Durham, northern England, while she was on vacation.
But more than 200 people descended on the house for the party, some from as far afield as London, 450km away.
”Whoever has come in here are worse than animals; it’s like house rape,” Elaine said. ”They’ve been sick everywhere, urinated and trashed the house. It will take a month for it to be professionally cleaned and we are having to stay in temporary accommodation.”
She added that she wants the revellers prosecuted and fears for her daughter’s mental health.
Local police said they are investigating a complaint of criminal damage and pledged to speak to ”as many of the party-goers as we can”. — Sapa-AFP