'I'm so sorry' says teen whose party wrecked family home

The girl who invited teenagers from across the country to come to a wild party and 'trash' her parents' house claimed that it wasn't her fault.

Rachael Bell, 17, is still too scared to face her parents.

But she did break her silence to apologise for the drink-and-drugs fuelled bash that caused £20,000 damage to her family home.

Around 200 revellers ran amok while her parents were away after the "let's trash the average family-sized house all-night disco party" was advertised on the Internet.

Rachael admitted planning a "small gathering for about 60 people" but claimed sixth-form classmates hacked into her MySpace site and advertised it as a wild 'Skins' party, named after the TV teen drama whose characters indulge freely in alcohol and drugs.

Mother-of-four Elaine Bell and her husband Alan, both 48, were at the family home in Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland, still wondering what to do about the mess and still not talking to their daughter, who is staying with friends.

Rachael could not summon the courage to face them.

Instead she told her local newspaper: "I'm really, really sorry about what's happened. 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, Mum.

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"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."

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The party on Monday night led to complaints from angry neighbours, police turning up in force and a trail of destruction inside.

Rachael, who stayed behind to study for her A-levels while the rest of the family went on a short caravan holiday, said she never intended for details to be posted on MySpace.

"We heard people at school talking about gatecrashing a party, but we didn't think it would be ours," she said.

Alarm bells began ringing when strangers started arriving in cars at 9.30pm.

"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 said.

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As the teenagers damaged her family's belongings, stole valuables and ripped lights off walls, Rachael fled upstairs.

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

She claimed one of the partygoers impersonated her and told police everything was fine.

She added: "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. I thought I had a couple of days to clean the house before my parents got back.

"Then a neighbour said my mum was on her way home and everyone had better clear out - and I left."

Both Mr and Mrs Bell refused to comment on their daughter's apology.