Cambridge: Hundreds Attend Illegal Party

20 January 2014, 15:05 | Updated: 20 January 2014, 15:12

There were complaints about noise as up to 400 people gathered for an illegal party in a disused warehouse in Cambridge.

Authorities were alerted to the gathering in the former Eaden Lilly building on Mercers Row in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Between 300 and 400 people were found to be in the building, where a sound system had been set up.

However due to the numbers of people involved, authorities decided not to try to intervene at the time, but to monitor and to allow the party to come to a safe end. 

Inspector Steve Poppitt: "We took the view that, although we sympathised with local residents about the disturbance, the safety of officers and those attending the event outweighed considerations about trying to end the party early, by an intervention which may have had unfortunate consequences."

Councillor Jean Swanson, Executive Councillor for Environment added: "The Council has been in contact with the building's owners and it has been secured to prevent a further incident of this sort. 

Whilst it is regrettable that we were not able to close the event down earlier, much greater police resources would have been required to do so safely. 

With the police we sought to prevent a public order problem."