No-one charged in 98% of spiking related offences reported to police forces across the Midlands

ITV News

22-04-2025

Less than 2% of victims who reported a spiking-related offence to police forces across the Midlands in the past four years saw their case result in a charge, according to figures obtained by ITV News Central.
A freedom of information (FOI) request to police forces across the Midlands show in all but one force, for 99% of reports made to police, no-one was charged.
Figures also show women are considerably more likely to be targeted, with women in Staffordshire nine times more likely to report being the victim of spiking than men.
Since 2020, Staffordshire Police and Warwickshire Police made just one charge, with Derbyshire Police and Lincolnshire Police making two charges.
Staffordshire Police recorded a total of 319 incidents where women and men reported being the victim of a spiking related incident. Just one of these reports led to a charge.
Derbyshire Police recorded 568 reports, resulting in two charges.
West Mercia Police made the most number of charges compared to any other force, recording 13 charges for 696 reports, meaning in 98% of cases reported, no-one was charged.
In a statement Detective Chief Inspector Kate Tomkins, from Staffordshire Police said: 'Spiking can have a significant, traumatic impact on victims.
'Sadly, we believe that spiking is under-reported nationally. We, along with other police forces and partners in the UK, need to continue working hard to remove the barriers facing victims.
"We're working proactively in Staffordshire to make sure that victims are supported robustly and their report is thoroughly investigated. Work is ongoing with venues to help prevent spiking, through the use of stopper devices, anti-spiking kits, and bespoke training to venue staff to help keep people safe.
'This, paired with specific training for call handlers in Staffordshire to help preserve evidence of spiking and specific investigative plans for detectives investigating them, helps us respond to incidents as effectively as possible."
According to research by Drinkaware, 90% of people don't contact the police after being spiked and around half of those said it's because they 'don't see the point'.
Spiking is a crime, but as it isn't a standalone offence yet, it can be investigated and prosecuted under various criminal offences such as maliciously administering poison so as to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm, administering a substance or administering a substance with intent.
This is set to change under the Crime and Policing Bill which will see spiking made a standalone offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years. This is currently going through Parliament.
Detective Chief Inspector Kate Tomkins added: 'It's vital that we continue to act collectively in Staffordshire to ensure everyone can spot the signs that someone has been spiked and that incidents are reported to police as soon as possible.
"We can gather evidence that drugs have been in your system to help secure convictions against offenders, but the sooner we know, the better.
'We're determined to continue supporting victims in Staffordshire and to act strongly against those responsible for high-harm crimes like spiking.'
In a statement, a Home Office spokesperson said: 'These figures demonstrate that for far too long, victims of spiking have not got the justice they deserve, as deceptive and wicked perpetrators walk away free from their crimes.
'Our new criminal offence for spiking will strengthen how we prevent, detect, and respond - building victim confidence to report these crimes and bringing perpetrators to justice.'
The Home Office says police are using a number of tactics to tackle spiking and create safer nights out, with spiking sniffer dogs being trialled to detect perpetrators before they enter venues, and Project Vigilant enables police to identify and intervene against predatory behaviour.
Spiking charity, Spike Aware UK, has been campaigning for the new offence for years. While Founder, Colin Mackie welcomes the new bill as he believes it will give more victims the courage to report to police, he says: "The police are changing. They are actually up the investigations and I think that is all down to the new law coming forward. So that will give people the confidence to come forward."
But he says going forward A&E has a bigger part to play in ensuring more victims report to police, and to ensure essential evidence is collected and provided to police to investigate.
He explained: "A&E I do feel with this new law coming in, have a bigger part to play. I would just like to see the police working along with A&E so when a victim is confused and doesn't understand what's going happened to them, they are scares. A&E takes the evidence there and then preserves that.
"And if the victim wants to involve the police going forward, the evidence is there for police to use."
Colin also thinks everyone has a part to play to ensure spiking is taken more seriously, he said: "All too often we're hearing the story of they're accused of being drunk and people just want to remove them from the nightclub, police officers who will attend but will want to know how much they've had to drink."
"They just thought I was really drunk"
Eve Paris was out with friends on a night out in Stafford in April 2022 when she was spiked with a dirty needle. At the time no-one realised she'd been spiked, they thought she was extremely drunk.
She told ITV News Central: 'I started feeling a bit uneasy, feeling a bit nauseous and all of a sudden, literally it was a split second and, and that's when I said to the girls, I really don't feel very well.
"And I just completely knocked out, lost feeling in my arms, legs couldn't hold my head or couldn't speak anything like that and the girls had no idea what was wrong with me. They just thought I was really drunk."
Three days later she noticed her arm was swollen and red and immediately went to hospital in London, where she had returned for University. They confirmed she'd been spiked twice with a dirty needle, but it was too late for blood tests to detect what she'd been injected with.
She immediately told Staffordshire Police. After the investigation was launched she said it wasn't until a month after that she received a call saying they'd look into CCTV.
"I know personally places don't keep CCTV for a long period of time, especially over a month. By the August they said we didn't find anything because they didn't have CCTV. So that was that and they just closed the case."
She's now calling on police to take spiking victims more seriously and investigate reports sooner, she said: 'I remember getting the news and my mum, my heart sank a little bit because for me personally, my case has been dropped. I was so very lucky that I was okay, but there's a lot of other women that a lot worse happens and they don't get the action. And so it's sad it really is that it's not taken as seriously as it should have been."
Eve has welcomed a campaign by St John Ambulance volunteers to educate young people on how to spot the signs of someone whose been spiked, as well as how to issue first aid to someone you suspect has been spiked.
A recent poll of 2,000 people between the ages of 18 and 43 carried out by the charity found 23% had been spiked. That rose to almost half when asked if they'd 'possibly' been spiked. While 24% said they wouldn't recognise the symptoms of spiking.
Eve said if she or her friends had known the symptoms to look out for, she may have been taken to hospital earlier and ultimately had tests sooner, which could have detected what she'd been spiked with.
Three years later, Eve still hasn't been out in Stafford since. For months after the incident she was nervous and paranoid on a daily basis. She found getting on the tube a struggle and was nervous when other people were around her.
She's now built up the confidence to return to bars, but says spiking is something she's now extremely aware of.
She said: "It's something that still scares me. When I go out now with friends, I'm a lot more cautious.
"I haven't been out in Stafford since. I tried once a long time after it happened with the same group of friends. I couldn't even step foot into any of the pubs or anything like that."
Eve now lives in London, where she's at University, and says while she would have expected spiking could happen to her there, she never thought it would happen to her in Stafford.
She explained: "I thought that it would happen in bigger places, bigger cities, and for it to happen here shocked me massively. Growing up, I always felt very safe in Stafford.
"So it's definitely a shock to the system and I don't think I have the same love for the town now as I did before."
In November, the Home Secretary set out plans on police reform, to include the creation of a new performance unit in the Home Office designed to monitor results and drive up standards across every force in key priority areas such as Violence against women and girls.
The government said it will publish its strategy later this year to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, which will include offences like spiking, and will ensure police forces across the country are contributing to that goal.