Eleanor Ames
A Nottinghamshire police investigation into spiking has led to the arrest of a 20-year-old man after women have reported being spiked by injection in Nottingham nightclubs. Eleanor Ames explains the details.
Superintendent Kathryn Craner, of Nottinghamshire Police, said in a statement to Impact: “We are currently investigating reports of individuals suspecting that their drinks have been spiked.”
“Linked to this, a small number of victims have said that they may have felt a scratching sensation as if someone may have spiked them physically. Consequently, we are actively investigating all these reports.”
“We have also arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of possession of class A and class B [drugs] and cause [to] administer poison or noxious thing with intent to injure, aggrieve and annoy following a report of an incident in Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham city centre, on 16 October 2021.”
“The man has now been bailed with conditions as we continue to investigate.”
we can cover our drinks and not leave them unattended to prevent spiking, but how do we protect ourselves from this?
Zara Owen, a University of Nottingham student who believes she was spiked by an injection in a Nottingham city centre nightclub on the 11th of October, described on social media how she woke up the following day with “a sharp agonising pain” in her leg, and later found a “pinprick” in the area. Reported symptoms include suddenly feeling very drunk or drowsy, nausea, and severe memory loss, with Zara stating she had “almost zero recollection from that night”. There are also severe health risks involved with being injected by an unclean needle.
Ellie Simpson, whose sister believes she was spiked by injection in another Nottingham city centre nightclub, wrote on social media: “This is so scary, we can cover our drinks and not leave them unattended to prevent spiking, but how do we protect ourselves from this?”. Whilst certain clubs require those attending to pass through a metal detector, many believe “more needs to be done in clubs/bars to stop people getting these things into clubs”.
Hannah Thompson, a former student at Edinburgh Napier University, created a gov.uk petition to “make it a legal requirement for nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry”. The petition, which was launched on the 14th of October, has already reached over 150,000 signatures, meaning parliament will consider it for a debate.
A group of students have launched the Instagram account @girlsnightinnottingham in order to promote a boycott of all Nottingham nightclubs on Wednesday 27th of October.
no one should feel unsafe on a night out
They told Impact: “The aim is to make clubs take effective action to prevent variants of spiking happening within their venues and most importantly enforce changes.”
A University of Nottingham spokesperson told Impact: “We are extremely concerned by these reports – no one should feel unsafe on a night out.”
“We are working closely with Nottinghamshire Police and the city’s nightlife venues to monitor, review and learn from incidents and experiences in the city centre. We have contacted them about the specific concerns raised and will continue to liaise with them to actively tackle societal problems and challenge behaviours.”
“Nottinghamshire Police are encouraging anyone who believes they have experienced or witnessed such an incident to make contact with the Police immediately so that they can investigate at the earliest opportunity.”
Eleanor Ames
Featured image courtesy of chalkbass via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
For more content including uni news, reviews, entertainment, lifestyle, features and so much more, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like our Facebook page for more articles and informarion on how to get involved!
