Out of control, 200 teens mob suburban house party
Police deploy in force as violence flares after invitation goes viral
A HOUSE party mobbed by up to 200 teenagers was shut down by police officers after it spiralled out of control.
Dozens of uninvited guests swarmed to the address and were soon spilling out on to surrounding streets.
Neighbours reported their cars being vandalised and an 18-year-old was taken to hospital after being assaulted.
Following a raft of complaints, dozens of police cars and officers as well as ambulances were sent to the scene in Worthing, West Sussex, at around 8.30pm on Friday.
Zoe Hannah Ellett, who drove past the address, claimed on Facebook that the side panel of her car was kicked by one of the revellers. Another resident said on social media: ‘I had mine punched’.
Officers decided to issue a dispersal order, which gives them extra powers to break up groups causing nuisance, harassment or distress.
Hundreds of youngsters were seen wandering the streets as officers used megaphones to order them to go home. They also closed off nearby roads.
Witnesses said it took police several hours to clear the area.
Videos and photos posted on social media showed hundreds of youngsters, who appeared to be of secondary school age, hanging around outside the house after news of the party went viral.
It is understood that officers from across the county were deployed to the area to bring the party under control.
One user wrote on the Worthing Town Facebook group: ‘The person
‘Harassment and distress’
whose party it was is now a legend in the eyes of their generation.’
A spokesman for Sussex Police said last night: ‘Police were called to reports of a group of around 100 to 200 people causing anti-social behaviour following a party at an address in Poulters Lane, Worthing at 8.30pm on Friday.
‘Officers were quickly on scene and a Section 34 Dispersal Order was authorised, giving officers and designated police staff the power to disperse individuals behaving in an anti-social manner.
‘The party was dispersed, and the area was cleared.
‘Following the incident, police received a report of an 18-year-old man who was assaulted at around 10.30pm in South Street, Tarring. As a result of his injuries, he was taken to hospital and enquiries are ongoing to identify the suspect.
‘Witnesses or anyone with any information is asked to contact Sussex Police online or call 101 quoting serial 1474 of 23/02.’
Two suspects were detained over the attack on the 18-year-old but were released without charge.
According to Rightmove, a real estate website, the average price of a property on Poulters Lane is £565,000. Last March, Scotland Yard prevented a ‘very large’ house party from happening when around 100 youths mobbed an address in Morden, south-west London.
There were reports of dangerous crowding, yobs going into residential gardens and others clambering on to roofs.
And in November, three men were convicted of murdering a teenage boy who was fatally stabbed at a party in Leeds.