The true prevalence of drink and needle spiking remains unknown because of inadequate data collection, MPs have warned, after hearing of victims dismissed as having had “one too many”.
Describing spiking as a “heinous crime”, the home affairs select committee called for urgent improvements in reporting, investigating and prosecuting spiking incidents.
“We are pleased that the government is considering the case for a separate criminal offence for spiking. However, the most pressing need is for police to collect more data on perpetrators and their motives for spiking innocent victims,” the MPs concluded in an inquiry launched following a sudden increase in the number of reported spiking incidents last year.
The committee also called for a rapid forensic testing service to ensure timely provision of forensic testing, admissible as evidence in court.
Approximately 1,895 victims and 1,413 witnesses of suspected spiking incidents filled in a survey to explain what happened and what support was provided.
Of the respondents, 355 victims had been spiked twice, 76 three times, 17 four times and 21 on five or more occasions.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council reported 1,032 cases of needle injection between the beginning of September 2021 and the end of December, most of which occurred in October. The peak in incidents coincided with the start of the university year. By 26 January 2022, this figure had risen to 1,382.
But the number of proven cases remains low. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine told the inquiry: “The academic literature that exists on spiking in the UK concludes that the majority of people who present to EDs [emergency departments] with concerns about spiking usually do not have illicit drugs in their blood or urine samples.”
MPs heard that many of those who reported a suspected spiking incident were dismissed as just being drunk.
“Even when victims report the crime, a victim-blaming culture can compound trauma and mean missed opportunities to collect evidence,” the committee reports. “Despite safeguarding training requirements for door supervisors, many victims criticise nightclubs’ treatment of victims, saying staff dismiss their concerns, eject them for ‘being drunk’, or refuse to provide CCTV footage.”
Helena Conibear, the chief executive of the Alcohol Education Trust, told the inquiry that in culture was required among “A&E, GPs, the police and any of the frontline people who first meet somebody, including door staff and anybody in the night-time economy”, to move away from presuming someone was drunk, to recognising that they could be a victim of spiking.
The government should support night-time industries to help boost security measures such as recruitment and training of security staff, the committee concluded.
In addition, the Home Office should commission research to feed into a national strategy for prevention, detection and prosecution of spiking, the MPs said.
The home affairs committee chair, Dame Diana Johnson, said victims were often left with feelings of “self-doubt and vulnerability” as they have little idea what happened or who spiked them.
“It isn’t good enough to tell people to put lids on their drinks or normalise taking a testing kit out with you,” she said. “Everyone should have the right to go out and enjoy themselves without fear. The message needs to be sent to perpetrators that spiking is absolutely unacceptable and will be punished.”