They claimed to have their own bus, gatecrashed parties across Britain, and engaged in extravagant orgies on washing machines. But now the Facebook Republican Army, a gang of twenty-somethings who targeted teenage celebrations advertised on Facebook, say they never actually existed.

Referring to themselves as “every parent’s worst nightmare”, their activities have been reported in the national press for almost a year, most recently this week. For a while it seemed that no one’s teenage children - or white goods - were safe.

But speaking to The Times, Steve O’Brien, their supposed ringleader, said that the lies had gone on too long. “It was a bit of a laugh,” the 25 year-old Brighton plumber said. “But it is now getting to the stage where it could be damaging for my job. I am looking yobbish, and I want to set the record straight.”

Earlier this week, three national papers reported that a £1 million home in Brighton had been “trashed” after gate-crashers swelled the numbers for the 16th birthday party of Georgina Hobday from 100 to 400.

The “horror show” devastation included a broken shed window, a dirty carpet, and second hand accounts that someone may have headbutted a mirror.

But most disturbing was a report from an un-named gatecrasher, who said that the troublemakers were a group of older partygoers. “When they turn up at a party, they know that no one will dare say anything, so they can just barge in and do what they want,” he said. Steve O’Brien was later quoted as saying: “We don’t intend to cause trouble, but it kicks off sometimes. The house usually gets trashed.” The Facebook Republican Army had struck again.

The FRA first came to prominence in March of this year, after a 15-year-old’s party was overrun in Worthing, and the family dog was allegedly given ecstasy tablets. Following that party, Mr O’Brien’s brother Shaun, 24, was quoted as saying: “I saw one man having sex with three women on the washing machine. At about 2am I went into one of the bedrooms and saw two boys having sex.” When asked if he took part, he replied: “We all got involved.”

Steve is particularly proud of that quotation. “We had to use our imagination a fair bit,” he says. But it was the details that made the tale so compelling - they claimed to have bought a coach and hired a driver to take 40 of them anywhere in the country. This is despite the fact that only two members - the brothers - are ever quoted. That story fed into one of the more yobbish quotations, where, when asked about violence, he said: “If we’ve travelled 200 miles for a party we’re not going to just walk away.” “It was bullshit though,” Steve says. “Why would I want to drive all that way for a party?” Shaun, who says he was working on the night of the most recent party, made a similar point. “I’m 24, why would I want to hang around with 15 year-olds?” he said.

While both parties were undoubtedly gatecrashed, and both were advertised on social-networking site Facebook, the FRA were not involved. Georgina Hobday told The Times that they were not at her party in Brighton - which seemed to be mainly attended by peers from local schools. Afterwards, Mr O’Brien went to visit the family “to clear the air”, and he said they accepted he was not there.

The brothers seem to have perpetrated the hoax by waiting until a story emerged involving gatecrashers, and then phoning up newspapers claiming responsibility. Steve O’Brien initially offered The Times a full face-to-face interview but, after receiving a number of calls from other media organisations, failed to arrive. He said on the phone: “I know at some point this story has to end, but at the moment I am being offered a lot of money for the same bullsh*t tale.”

The Facebook Republican Army lives on.

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