Drug-spiking incidents reported to the police have increased five-fold in five years, yet the proportion leading to a criminal charge is falling, freedom of information (FoI) requests show.
Almost 20,000 reports of spiking were received in the past five years by 39 police forces that responded to FoI requests sent out by Channel 4 for a documentary.
Yet the proportion of the reports that were investigated and resulted in a criminal charge dropped from 1 in 25 in 2018 to 1 in 400 in 2022. Channel 4 found just 54 cases where a suspect had been arrested and referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The documentary, part of the Untold series, is calling for a change in the law to make spiking a criminal offence, rather than having to use other pieces of legislation, such as the Sexual Offences Act or Offences Against The Person Act.
Barrister Charlotte Proudman, who is interviewed in the show, said: “At the moment the law is not a deterrent because there’s no specific criminal offence for spiking, so it’s not recognised as a crime in and of itself in its own right.
“In terms of sending out a key strong message that spiking is a crime that will not be tolerated, and to use the law as a deterrent, there is nothing in the statute box that makes that crystal clear.”
She said this would be analogous to other specific crimes enshrined in law, for example, female genital mutilation or forced marriage.
She told the Guardian: “It’s not common but it’s becoming more common. Part of that is the recognition that the laws we live under, some have been made centuries ago. The Offences Against The Person Act used in some spiking cases goes back to the 1800s and it’s Victorian legislation. It’s about making sure the law is up to date with the modern times we live in.”
As well as sending a signal to those who think it’s “a laugh” to put something in a friend’s drink, Proudman added that it would “encourage police officers to take this a hell of a lot more seriously and properly investigate, which is not happening at the moment”.
Alison Hernandez, police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall and another interviewee in the documentary, said police “need to go into prevention mode for this because it’s a really hard crime to evidence”. This is because drugs have often left the victim’s system by the time they come forward.
She urged those who have been spiked to contact the police or Crimestoppers to help them establish locations where there are problems.
The documentary charts presenter Daisy Maskell as she has her drink spiked by a professor of psychopharmacology at Exeter University, Celia Morgan, who herself was spiked and assaulted as a teenager, an experience she found “hugely traumatic”.
Prof Morgan administers a safe dose and medical doctors monitor Maskell. Citing the risk of a heart attack for people with high blood pressure, Morgan said: “People out there have just got complete carelessness for other people’s lives. And they have no idea of what is a dose that will lead to someone’s death or permanent disability.”
Maskell said her experience was “the most out of control” she has ever felt. During the spiking, she said: “‘My body doesn’t have the capability any more to do what I know I want to do.”
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Maskell also meets victims of spiking, including one who experienced “public humiliation” that she found “actually devastating” when she was revenge spiked by a male friend whose romantic interests she rejected, another who woke up on the side of a dual carriageway, and a third who came round in a stranger’s bed, which left her feeling that “the version of who I was beforehand is dead”.
Untold also contacted the authorities that grant licenses to pubs and bars about spiking policies. Of the 328 that responded, more than four out of five said there was no reference to spiking in their licensing policies, while seven out of 10 said they had never run any form of spiking-related communications campaign.
The documentary visits a pub in Exeter that is taking proactive steps to safeguard its customers, with posters in bathrooms urging people to tell staff if they think their drink has been spiked, and testing kits behind the bar.
Parliament ordered the Home Office to write a report about how it would tackle spiking by April this year, however, it has yet to be published.
A Home Office spokesperson said there had been a delay to the publication of the statutory report, which is now scheduled for later in the autumn.
The spokesperson said: “Spiking is an abhorrent act that is already illegal and anyone who commits this crime faces up to 10 years behind bars. We have invested [in] initiatives to tackle drink spiking, campaigns to raise awareness, and training for bar staff.
“We have rolled out spiking-specific communications and campaign activity at summer music festivals and, currently, at universities across the UK.”
