Aspiring party planner left with £29k bill after lockdown-flouting Knightsbridge New Year party

The party took place on Exhibition Road
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A woman flouted the Covid-19 lockdown when she threw a New Years Eve’s party at a luxury Knightsbridge townhouse that has cost her £29,000, a court heard.

Isabela Filipa Santos Dias Rodrigues, 23, organised the illicit event, charging £1,000-per-table in a bid to launch a career as a professional party planner.

However Met Police officers discovered the party on December 31 last year after spotting smartly-dressed partygoers entering the back door of the house clutching bottles of wine.

Rodrigues admitted renting out the luxury townhouse - opposite Imperial College London and close to London’s famed museum district - for three nights through AirBnB, pretending it was only for a family of six.

Westminster magistrates court heard up to 300 people attended the party, which carried on until 3am in spite of police guarding the entrances to stop more guests from entering.

Rodrigues, who says she herself was blocked from entering the venue at 47 Exhibition Road, claims she was ripped off by a promoter who had offered to help throw the party but she is no longer able to contact.

She says she was left to foot the £10,000 rental bill for the townhouse, while the promoter took £5,000 in cash that she gave him as well as money from ticket sales.

Rodrigues also faced demands for refunds from guests who were denied entry to the party by police, and she has now been ordered to pay a £14,000 fine for breaking the Covid-19 regulations.

PC Gurj Rehill was among the team of police officers who discovered the party but were blocked from entering by security guards.

Officers decided they could only stop more people from attending rather than breaking up the event due to the volume of people inside the house.

“I saw a number of Uber taxis attending the address to pick up groups of people coming out of the rear of the property”, he said in a statement to the court.

“Some of these people were staggering to the waiting taxis, clearly intoxicated and drunk from alcohol.

“During the evening, a male had popped his head out of the window of the premises and goaded police officers outside, refusing to open the front door.”

Rodrigues, from Roehampton, was questioned four days later by police, breaking down and admitting that she had hired out the house to throw a party.

“She accepted responsibility and appeared remorseful”, said PC Rehill.

“She stated that she had lost money from organising the event as another man who had offered to assist her had kept money earned from the sale of tables at the venue and could no longer be contacted by her.

“She had been left to pay the rent of the premises and customers who had booked tables but were unable to attend the party due to police presence.”

The officer said Rodrigues had revealed “it was her intention to have a profession in event promotion/organising”.

“I informed her that she had risked the spread of the Covid virus amongst many people as a result of her actions. She was upset by what she had done and was remorseful”, he added.

PC Matthew Bantick said Rodrigues had estimated around 300 people attended the party, with tables sold at “over £1000”.

“Rodrigues claimed that she had given £5,000 in cash to a promoter who was helping to organise the event, to cover half the cost of renting the townhouse, but that money never made its way to the landlord”, he added.

Rodrigues has been given until July 14 to pay the £14,000 fine as well as court costs and fees totalling £300.

She did not enter a plea to the charge of holding a gathering, in breach of the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020, and was convicted in her absence on June 16.

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