What I saw when I walked into the VIP-only inner sanctum of one of P Diddy's sordid, drug-fuelled parties in the Hollywood Hills, as told by one insider to ALISON BOSHOFF

Say what you like about P Diddy's parties, but they were certainly ­memorable – for those 'privileged' enough to make it onto the strict invitation list at least.

If not just for the debauchery, which was on a scale to shame Caligula, ­attendees also couldn't fail to be ­dazzled by the sheer number of A-listers who would throng the ­billionaire music mogul's mansion.

There appears to have been no limit to the wealth of stellar contacts P Diddy – real name Sean Combs – could attract to his gatherings.

Take one particular bash in the spring of 2008 at Combs's house in the Hollywood Hills. The attendees included musicians Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Mel B and Lionel Richie; actors Ben Stiller, Ashton Kutcher and Denzel Washington; socialites Nicole Richie, Paris and Nicky Hilton; and tennis stars Venus and ­Serena Williams.

'And they were just the ones I ­recognised,' says my contact, a ­Hollywood insider, who prefers to remain anonymous, and attended this extraordinary party as the plus one of a friend of the host himself.

Fascinatingly, my contact paints a rather ominous picture of Combs – whose ­fortune is founded on everything from record sales to perfume and clothing brands – in party mode.

'He wasn't having fun, it was more like he was orchestrating events for everyone else,' the source says. 'He spent quite a lot of time sitting on a half-moon-shaped couch with his crew, just staring at the other guests. There was an air of menace. Lots of people there knew what he could be like . . .'

Or at least they do now.

The picture my contact paints comes in a week where the events at Combs's parties are being thrown into newly sharp focus, with many allegations emerging of rapes, abuse and coercion.

Indeed, if convicted, the 54-year-old could face life in prison after being charged in relation to an apparent 'criminal enterprise' through his business empire: engaging in sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, drugs offences, transportation to engage in prostitution, kidnapping and physical abuse against women, among other offences.

Combs denies all charges and his lawyer insists that, despite languishing in a notoriously unpleasant Brooklyn prison, 'he's engaged, he's helpful, he's confident. We're going through our defence as we do every day and his spirits are relatively good.' He described him as 'an imperfect person' but 'not a criminal'.

Regardless, each day seems to bring yet more evidence of his ­sordid behaviour.

Yesterday, for example, ­photographs emerged from a star-studded party in 2004 which showed Combs eating food from the body of a naked woman who acted as the centrepiece of a platter – with just a green leaf ­covering her private parts. Guests appeared to be completely unfazed by the spectacle.

Actors Will Smith, Owen Wilson and Bruce Willis were also ­pictured at the same party.

While there's no suggestion any celebrity in attendance at this party – nor the one my contact attended in 2008 – took part in or ­witnessed illegal activities, the optics, to put it mildly, are still not good.

It's little wonder that many famous names – from Leonardo DiCaprio to Naomi Campbell – are now scrabbling to distance ­themselves from Combs.

And, according to my source, the story is potentially set to get even more squalid – if that's ­possible, considering that ­investigators have already seized a thousand bottles of baby oil and other lubricants while carrying out raids on Combs's properties.

For, along with a guest list ­reading like a celebrity Who's Who entry, there was another apparently essential element to the Combs party he attended: a number of very young ­looking girls.

'The vibe was that they were available to anyone, and all just waiting for a tap on the shoulder from Mr Millionaire,' says my source, who estimates that there were around 300 people at the party he attended.

'The regular guests were ­wearing expensive Jimmy Choo pumps and Alaia or Gucci dresses, that sort of thing. But these girls were in ­swimsuits, cheap shoes and not much more. It was obvious to me that they were hookers – and not the high-class ones who used to work out of the Peninsula hotel [in Beverly Hills].

'And they were young, too – some looked around 15 years old. It's hard to be sure, as everyone was wearing make-up and nobody would ask, but my impression was that they were very young girls.'

Of course, with so many guests in attendance, it's impossible to say who saw what.

But in the early hours, as many partygoers started to drift home, those same girls were to be found partying with Combs and his 'crew' in a secluded 'inner ­sanctum' which was reached via a sliding door, disguised as part of a bookcase.

My source says: 'The party was like a Russian doll – there was a party in a party in a party.

There was an inner sanctum, and an inner, inner sanctum, which you actually got to via a spiral staircase.'

Not since Jeffrey Epstein have we heard so many allegations of exploitation.

The full extent of claims of abuse allegedly carried out at Combs's behest appears to be only just coming to light – and one can only imagine that, among all those famous friends of Combs, no one wants to be the new Prince Andrew.

So how did the downfall of Combs – a former altar boy and devout Catholic – unfold?

The charges against him centre around so-called 'freak offs' or private sex parties, allegedly taking place in hotel rooms with male and female prostitutes from 2008 to the present day.

Some 'freak-offs' are said to have gone on for days, ending up with exhausted participants having to rehydrate via an IV drip.

It is from one of these dissolute events that Combs's former ­girlfriend Cassie – real name Casandra Ventura – was allegedly trying to flee in 2016 when security cameras in a Los Angeles hotel captured Combs viciously attacking her in a corridor.

She filed a lawsuit against Combs in November 2023 which he settled within a day – and that seems to have set in motion the chain of events, with more ­people coming forward with claims of abuse.

While Combs's famous White Parties – with their all-white dress code – and other ­celebrity-heavy gatherings were separate to the freak-offs, my source tells me that even a 'standard' party with P Diddy, such as the one he attended, was hair-raisingly debauched.

He arrived on a warm night in 2008, taking the winding roads of the Hollywood Hills to the ­mansion, at around 8pm. At the gates was 'serious' security. ­'Perhaps a dozen guys, they looked ex-services or FBI. Everyone was ­wearing a uniform, and it looked like everyone was packing a pistol.'

While A-listers drove their cars to the front door, everyone else had to leave their rides at the gate. After showing invitations and having bags and pockets checked by the ­security, guests took a short trip in one of a fleet of Cadillac Escalades to the entrance.

Interestingly, this 'shuttle' service is exactly what happened at the Playboy mansion's infamous parties, too – allowing security to keep a tight hold of who is getting in, preventing any hassle or, God forbid, anyone pulling a gun at the door.

Combs's house – huge and modern – was, my source remembers, built into the side of the hill, with views across the valley to Sherman Oaks and Calabasas and beyond seen through the ground floor's floor-to-ceiling doors. These were open throughout the party, and guests strolled from the house to the enormous infinity pool outside.

Inside, the air quickly became thick with the smoke from hundreds of marijuana joints. 'Even if you aren't smoking it, you are probably high – because the whole place absolutely reeked of weed,' says my source.

Cocaine was taken more ­discreetly in bathrooms while drinks were mostly based on Ciroc vodka – then being ­promoted by Combs who was a brand partner – and Armand de Brignac champagne, in which his close friend Jay-Z had invested. Food was cooked to order for the guests.

My source heard Denzel Washington's wife Pauletta exclaim over the quality of the fried chicken, before observing that her husband said hers was the best in the world. Others enjoyed pasta.

The host circulated, at least in the first few hours. His own ­personal security detail ­followed him around to make sure nobody got close to him if he didn't want them to – even though this was a crowd he had personally invited.

The source says: 'Puffy was going around saying 'hi' to ­people but always moving on. He didn't really engage with people. Girls were trying to make a beeline for him all the time. The girls were very much with him and seemed to be at his disposal.'

Whether or not Barack Obama would make an appearance was much discussed among guests: Combs had by then lent his support to the Obama campaign, after the pair had first crossed paths in 2004 when the rapper had rallied support for the Democrats ahead of that year's Democratic National Committee.

Such was his political cachet at the time that Combs had even interviewed Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2004, before supporting Obama's run for the White House in 2008.

Indeed, just a few months after this gathering, Combs hosted a rally for Obama in Florida before the election.

Back at the party, entry to the secret 'inner sanctum' was policed by security, with ­admittance seemingly made only on the basis that the guest was famous enough to be recognised.

The inner sanctum itself, says my source, was a large ­sitting room with a spiral staircase in the corner, which in turn led to another party area that seemed to be 'a bedroom cleared of furniture' and included a balcony.

My source says: 'As I got up to the top of the spiral stairs, a very well-known Hollywood agent was handing everyone a quaalude. They were bright green. It's not my thing but I accepted it to be polite and then just held it in my hand.'

Quaaludes, a sedative ­hypnotic drug which is no longer fashionable, were once known as 'disco biscuits'. A ­synthetic drug popular for diminishing sexual inhibitions, they were once a big part of nightclub culture.

My source's account of the parties which took place within the main party chimes with music industry insider Tom Swoope's comments on his YouTube channel about Combs's events.

He said that in the most innermost tier of the parties, guests suffered or allegedly ­witnessed sexual humiliation on the promise of money or record deals.

Swoope and other alleged witnesses have also claimed drugs including cocaine and ecstasy were snorted off ­surfaces, including the bodies of guests – but again only in the innermost tier.

And the New York Post has reported how when an ex-drug dealer was once summoned to Diddy's Hamptons home ­during one of his big parties, the star – wearing only a bathrobe – led him to a bedroom where he was astonished to see male rappers having sex with each other.

While my source didn't see any sex – or sexual humiliation – at this particular party, he comments: 'I've been to a lot of parties and you could ­absolutely tell which way this one was going to go.

'After midnight, it started to thin out as people began to go home. I would say that the wives, respectable people and gay people just gradually ended up outside the inner sanctum, and then security stopped ­letting people in there.

'It was Diddy, his inner crew, and all the girls, in there by around 1.30am or 2am.

'You know that at some point there is going to be a lot of sex and a lot more drugs.

'We joined the people leaving – there was a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam of limos going down the hill.'

And as for what was happening inside after he left, he insists: 'I know everyone who went will be trying to dodge the question and will be saying that they didn't see anything.

'But I don't think the things that have come out about Diddy over the past week should really come as a surprise to anyone who has been to one of his parties.'