A COMMUNITY centre has said it will no longer be holding discos following the death of a teenage boy after a party.

Hundreds of pounds-worth of damage was caused to Marwood Community Centre, in Teesdale, County Durham, by revellers at the party on Friday.

It is believed 15-year-old John Winter died of hypothermia after trying to walk back to his house in Zetland Road, Barnard Castle, three miles from the community centre, near the village of Kinninvie.

He had taken a route across exposed farmland and was wearing only a T-shirt, jeans and boots.

Police have said many of the people at the party were drunk.

Three people were also arrested and later released on bail on suspicion of possessing and supplying cannabis and Ecstasy at the party.

Community centre chairman Peter Stubbs said the hall had been booked by parents of teenagers wanting to hold a birthday party.

He said the teenagers were unable to stop older youths gatecrashing the party.

The community centre was seeking payment from the people who booked it for the damage caused.

Mr Stubbs said: "We just understood it was 15 or 16-year-olds with soft drinks.

"There was no licensed bar, people must have just brought it with them.

"It just shows how when you haven't got plenty of authority how things can go wrong.

"For one thing, the party had been gatecrashed by people that hadn't been invited."

The party was booked using the normal procedures and police have told the community centre committee it was not at fault.

The centre was refurbished in 2001 and Mr Stubbs said it would no longer be holding discos.

He said: "There's no way we'll be doing any more, we can do plenty of other things.

"When we were starting with the hall a few years ago we never had any discos to raise funds because you would have had young people coming from Barnard Castle and then walking back, and if they've had a drink, knocking on doors.

"This is the last thing that we wanted."

* An inquest into John Winter's death will be opened in Crook later today.