Masked ball descends into orgy

The owner of a 17th Century manor house called the police after an upper-class masked ball turned into an orgy. Halswell House in Somerset was hired for £9,000 by a group of 350 revellers who arrived a fleet of Porsches, BMWs and Aston Martins. They were all wearing long cloaks and masks and the party continued normally until midnight - when they stripped down to leather pants, corsets and suspenders.

The guests then started kissing and a mass orgy ensued with couples having sex "everywhere". Halswell House owner Grahame Bond, a multi-millionaire estate agent, was forced to send some of his teenage staff home because of the explicit activities. He called the police but was told officers were powerless to intervene because it was on a private dwelling between consenting adults.

It later emerged that the party had been organised by a Dutch events company which specialises in sexy 'adults-only' parties. Mr Bond, 45, who brought the property for £1.94 million in 2004, said the evening suddenly turned into an orgy "as if a switch had been flicked on". He said: "The party started normally and it all seemed pretty harmless - people were drinking but everyone was very well behaved and pleasant.



"The whole group were dressed in these great costumes and it looked exactly like something out of Eyes Wide Shut. But then one of the organisers announced: 'The moment has come. The spell has begun' and everyone began kissing and having sex. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I was totally lost for words it was as if a switch had been flicked on.

"The first thing we saw was one couple at it on a window sill. When the haze from the dry ice in the disco room cleared we realised it was going on everywhere. That's when the penny dropped that it was a swinger's party. The guests were all public-school types and I jokingly said to one: 'I suppose you are a High Court judge.' He replied: 'You're not far off the mark'."

"I was very worried for my staff and told them they could go home if they wanted, and two of them, who were only 19 years old, did so. I called the police but they said that as it was a private party there was nothing illegal about it."

There are some photos here.