Three arrested after New Year’s Eve party leaves 500-year-old church trashed

Essex police have arrested three people after an unlicensed music event on New Year’s Eve attended by hundreds of people left a 500-year-old church in East Horndon trashed.

The All Saints Church was one of three main locations throughout the course of the night to which police responded to reports of unlicensed events and house parties which breached coronavirus regulations in the county.

Friends of All Saints, a conservation group that supports the church, said they are “devastated” by the damage caused to the Grade II listed building, and estimate repairs could cost more than £1,000.

Astrid Gillespie, a volunteers for the group, said she was “just trying to get her head around the news” after she found out about the incident via a Facebook post on New Year’s Day.

According to police, officers had been threatened and had objects thrown at them while trying to engage with the revellers present.

They gained entry into the building, seized equipment and dispersed the crowd before midnight.

A 27-year-old man from Harlow was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs, a public order offence and breaching coronavirus regulations.

A 22-year-old, also from Harlow, was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence, possession of cannabis and violating coronavirus laws.

Lastly, a 35-year-old man from Southwark was arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A and Class B drugs.

Ms Gillespie, 48, told the PA news agency: “There were hundreds of people there, it sounded like a ticketed event. It was a professional set-up, they’d hired Portaloos - they’re still there.

“They had a bar area where you had to exchange tokens, so they must have been seeing drinks tokens.

“There was loads of evidence of drugs and they’ve done damage to the church, obviously it’s a mess and needs to be completely cleaned out.”

She said the grounds had been “churned up” from vans driving on it to drop off equipment, a small window had been smashed to put in an extractor fan unit and sound equipment had been wired into the church’s fuse box.

Due to the building’s age and heritage status, the damage was “not going to be cheap” to fix, she said, adding that the locks would have to be replaced.

“The vicar is going to organise a preliminary clean-up but it’s a huge task and we’re estimating £1,000 but it could be well more.

“I love the place, it’s such a beautiful church, and to find out it’s been damaged is devastating, I’m just trying to get my head around it,” said Ms Gillespie.

Officers from the force shut down several unauthorised events on New Year’s Eve and handed out fines to organisers and fixed penalty notices totalling £18,000. A further two people were arrested at an event in Brentwood, one for failing to provide details and another on suspicion of drink driving.

Assistant Chief Constable Andy Prophet thanked residents who stayed at home and “did the right thing”.

“Unfortunately, there were others who decided to blatantly flout the coronavirus rules and regulations, and ultimately, they decided that partying was more important than protecting other people.

“We’ve seized their equipment, arrested five people and issued a large number of fines to those who think this behaviour is acceptable."