Daughter arrested over party from hell

6:02am Saturday 14th April 2007

THE teenager whose house party ended in a £20,000 wrecking spree was last night arrested by detectives.

Shamed student Rachael Bell, who had earlier apologised to her parents for the damage caused to their County Durham home, was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage and other matters unconnected to the party.

The 17-year-old was taken to Durham City police station for questioning and was released on police bail pending further inquiries.

She had been in hiding at a friend's house after the Easter Monday party at her parents' £230,000 home in Chipchase Court, Woodstone Village, near Houghton-le-Spring.

The couple arrived back from a caravan break in Whitburn, near Sunderland, to discover that more than 100 gatecrashers had left a trail of devastation at their home after the party was advertised on the internet.

Yesterday morning, Miss Bell said her MySpace site had been hijacked by louts who invited all-comers to "trash the average sized family house", imitating the trailer for the cult TV show Skins.

But only hours later she was arrested at a house in the Chester-le-Street area by three detectives investigating the party.

A spokesman for Durham Police said: "The investigation will be as wide as it needs to be.

"What she says will determine the direction of the inquiry."

Earlier in the day, Miss Bell - who insisted that her site had been hacked into - said she had not slept since the party.

She said: "I'm really sorry about what happened, but it wasn't my fault.

"I totally regret it. It was just supposed to be a party with a few friends and it turned into a complete nightmare.

"I'm sorry Mam.

"It was just an absolute nightmare. It was so surreal - it still seems surreal. You just can't imagine anything like it happening.

"I absolutely regret everything that happened. I still haven't properly slept, I just keep waking up and thinking about what happened."

Parents Allan and Elaine Bell say they were looking for temporary accommodation after drink and drug-fuelled yobs left cigarette burns all over the carpets, smashed furniture, ripped light fittings from the ceiling and urinated on Mrs Bell's wedding dress.

The sixth-form student, who studies at Park View Comprehensive School, in Chester-le-Street, claimed classmates had hacked into her internet site and invited teenagers from across the

country to an all-night party in the quiet suburban street, which they advertised as an "Unofficial Skins Party".

Miss Bell said: "It was just supposed to be a small gathering with about 60 people. My friends are DJs and said they'd play.

"At half nine, we saw people pulling up in cars.

We didn't recognise them and didn't know what was going on, so we bolted the door, but they just started climbing through the window."

She added: "We heard people at school talking about gate-crashing a party, but we didn't think it would be ours. We didn't think anyone would want to come.

"There were even 11-year-olds, year sevens from our school, trying to get in."

Miss Bell said she suffered a panic attack upstairs at the party after the teenagers, who came from as far away as London, started smashing the house.

She said: "I just had a panic attack because of everything that was going on, just because I was so powerless to stop it.

"Not everybody there was trashing the place. There were some nice people who were going round throwing people out.

"But in the morning, the full extent of what happened just hit me.

"Actually, a lot of people even came back on the morning to help me try and tidy the place up. "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.

"I am really, really sorry about what's happened. I totally regret it. It was a complete nightmare and I'd warn anybody having a party not to put anything on MySpace, because the sites can be hacked.

"I'm just dreading going back to school and what the teachers are going to say. I'm frightened that I'll get kicked out. I've got to finish my A-levels."

On her MySpace page, the 17-year-old is pictured wearing Goth clothing and holding a can of lager, while her personal details include a series of foul-mouthed expletives.

And, in a message on a friend's MySpace page, purportedly written by Miss Bell, the teenager describes the party as "wild" and says she is considering having another.

Miss Bell said: "It was just supposed to be a small gathering with about 60 people. My friends are DJs and said they'd play.

"At half nine, we saw people pulling up in cars. We didn't recognise them and didn't know what was going on, so we bolted the door, but they just started climbing through the window."

She added: "We heard people at school talking about gate-crashing a party, but we didn't think it would be ours. We didn't think anyone would want to come.

"There were even 11-year-olds, year sevens from our school, trying to get in."

Miss Bell said she suffered a panic attack upstairs at the party after the teenagers, who came from as far away as London, started smashing the house.

She said: "I just had a panic attack because of everything that was going on, just because I was so powerless to stop it.

"Not everybody there was trashing the place. There were some nice people who were going round throwing people out.

"But in the morning, the full extent of what happened just hit me.

"Actually, a lot of people even came back on the morning to help me try and tidy the place up.

"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.

"I am really, really sorry about what's happened. I totally regret it. It was a complete nightmare and I'd warn anybody having a party not to put anything on MySpace, because the sites can be hacked.

"I'm just dreading going back to school and what the teachers are going to say. I'm frightened that I'll get kicked out. I've got to finish my A-levels."

On her MySpace page, the 17-year-old is pictured wearing Goth clothing and holding a can of lager, while her personal details include a series of foul-mouthed expletives.

And, in a message on a friend's MySpace page, purportedly written by Miss Bell, the teenager describes the party as "wild" and says she is considering having another.

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