A family's home was trashed when a gang of up to 100 youths gate-crashed their daughter's house party.
Kevin and Lesley Norman now face a bill of up to £3,500 after drunken youths turned up without warning at their Enderby home and went on a three-hour rampage.
The mayhem happened after a youth – not their daughter, 16-year-old Brodie, or any of her close friends – issued a general invitation to the party on Twitter, giving the address.
An estimated 80 to 100 youths turned up after 10pm on March 31.
Mr and Mrs Norman had been happy to leave Brodie and a handful of her close friends alone in the £350,000 detached house for the evening.
But after the open invitation was posted on Twitter, the youths turned up and began tearing through the family's home. Cooking oil and sauces were smeared or squirted over floors and walls throughout the house and then topped off with flour.
Bedrooms were ransacked and possessions thrown out of windows into the garden.
Wardrobes were opened and their contents strewn on the floor.
Two youths are said to have smashed a £200 antique chair with a baseball bat.
Garden ornaments, including antique terracotta pots, were also smashed.
The family said they had traced the youths, who they said were contrite but had been unable to account for their actions.
Mr and Mrs Norman said they were speaking out about their ordeal to warn other parents how even trusted and responsible young people's parties could be hijacked if advertised online.
Mr Norman, who was away for the weekend, said: "Our daughter asked if she could have a few friends over for the evening.
"These are kids we've known for years and, of course, we trust our daughter.
"The trouble was caused by people who just turned up because someone put it out on Twitter.
"It was mayhem but my daughter and her friends were too scared to do anything."
Mrs Norman, who arrived home shortly after 1am, when the troublemakers had left, said: "I was too shocked to say anything when I walked in.
"My whole body was shaking, but I couldn't even cry. It looked like a bomb had hit the house. Everything was obliterated.
"Brodie and her friends were on their hands and knees, doing their best to clean up the mess.
"They stayed until 4.30am but the place was a mess days later. We're still finding damage.
"I've done a rough tot-up of the damage and it came to more than £3,400.
"Brodie told us what had happened and that she had been running around the house screaming at these people to leave.
Mr and Mrs Norman believed many of the youngsters were emulating events in the film Project X – in which three friends hold a house party which quickly escalates out of their control.
Some of the youngsters discussing the party on Twitter in the days after it referred to the film, which was released last year.
Mrs Norman said: "A lot of them were saying it was an amazing party and a British Project X.
"The way some of them were talking about it, you could tell they had no idea of the destruction and hurt they had caused."
The family has found out that most of the youths were from the area.
They have spoken to a number of youths in the presence of their parents.
Mr Norman said parents were extremely upset to hear what their children had done and offered to compensate them.
The couple understood one of their daughter's friends called the police when he realised the party was getting out of control.
However, a spokeswoman for the police said the force could find no record of a call.
The family believed many of the youngsters in Enderby were emulating events in the film Project X - see trailer below.
