Facebook brings gatecrashers to Sweet 16

Published: Dec. 2, 2008 at 11:36 PM
Order reprints
BRIGHTON, England, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- An English teenager's 16th birthday party turned into a disaster when 400 gatecrashers who had learned of the party on Facebook showed up.

Georgina Hobday had invited 100 people to her parents' townhouse in Brighton for a party modeled on those in the TV show "My Big Sweet 16." Michael and Sylvia Hobday had drafted four adults to keep out unwanted guests Saturday night, but they were unable to cope with the crowd that appeared, the Daily Mail reported.

Eventually, 20 police officers got the gatecrashers under control. But in half an hour the uninvited guests trampled the garden, broke mirrors with their heads and scorched curtains and rugs with cigarette ends.

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

She said there was no alcohol in the house when the party started, but the gatecrashers arrived with plentiful supplies.

At least some of the crowd were believed to be members of a group called the Facebook Republican Army which uses social networking sites to find parties to crash.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


Czechs, Argentina tied 1-1 at Davis Cup (2 min)
U.S. seeks 'amnesty' for 2 journalists (7 min)
Working to end heart failure in children (13 min)
Admin. put off preobe of Afghan killings (20 min)
Santoro wins twice to reach semifinals (25 min)
U.S. urged to probe extremists in military (27 min)
Rain postpones PGA John Deere second round (32 min)
fark
Photoshop these creepy earrings
Patronizing Tijuana hookers while on drugs may be unhealthy, according to Dr. N.S. Sherlock, of...
Defense lawyers request words like "polygamy,""cult" and "compound" not be used in their client's...
TSG Mugshot roundup: Twin billing
Barbie-Con visitors split on major issue: Are you allowed to open her box and play with it?
It's been 10 years since "The Blair Witch Project." Where were you when this crappy, one-joke, overhyped...