Women are being injected with date rape drugs in pubs and nightclubs
Women being spiked via injection risk catching diseases such as HIV or Hepatitis
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Women are being targeted in a sinister new crime where they are injected with date rape drugs via needles in pubs and nightclubs.
There have been reports of young women being injected during nights out in cities across the UK - including Nottingham, Edinburgh and Dundee.
Victims say they have been pierced with a needle in their leg, hands and back and woke up to no recollection of the night.
They are left with a pinprick mark surrounded by a giant bruise, and police are investigating cases.
Those being spiked via injection also carry the risk of shared or unclean needles being used, posing threats of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C.
Student Zara, 19, woke up to a limp after she was pierced in the leg on the night of 10 October while in a nightclub.
She tweeted: “Monday night I went out clubbing, and nothing was out the ordinary for me, I had less than I usually have to drinks if I were on a night out and I ate beforehand.
“I remember going in, through a metal detector and going to the bar. And that’s where my memory fails me.
“I woke up the next morning in my bed with almost zero recollection from that night. I remember going into said club and getting my charger at home.
“Not a blue of a ‘I think I did this but I don’t remember’, more of a ‘I wasn’t even there to have a memory’.
“I woke up fine, no hangover or anything but a sharp agonising pain in my leg.
“I told my mum and she though it might’ve been a pulled muscle but then I realised I didn’t remember anything.
“I had to go to campus and I realised I had a massive limp. If my memory was there I would’ve neglected this but this is a thing that never, ever happens to me and it really confused me.
“I decided to go to hospital to get checked out but after eight hours of only having a triage and background info taken from me, I decided to go home.
“The next morning I felt my leg and examined it to a further extent as I didn’t get any help medically. I touched the part where I was in the most pain and I found a pinprick. I had been spiked.
“I was in jeans. A needle went through thick denim straight into my leg.”
Emma says she now has to go for monthly blood tests following a night out with friends last week.
She tweeted: “So after seeing recent posts and thinking back to the weekend when I was out I phoned my doctor who confirmed it’s likely that I was spiked by injection.
“I now need to go for monthly blood tests. Please please just be so vigilant when out. I can’t confirm where it happened sadly.”
In another viral Instagram post a woman said her sister was injected in the back, while wearing a backless dress.
It read: “Girls please please please be careful.
“Me and my sister were out waiting around a bar and something was injected into her back.
“This is currently under investigation by the police.
“She felt something going in and out of her back and that’s when she panicked and made me take the photo to see if anything was there and there was.
“Please make sure you are around your friends and safe on nights out, especially when you’re around males you don’t know.”
Law student Emily tweeted: “Please be careful on nights out. Last Saturday I was spiked in a club in through an injection in my hand.
“Luckily I was with people I trust who looked after me, but it was terrifying.
“I was sober when this happened and it shows protecting your drinks isn’t enough.
“I don’t remember the evening at all but was very unwell the next few days. Please be careful on nights out and if you do not feel right tell somebody. Stay safe. X”
Fears over women’s safety at night has grown following the death of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive who was murdered by cop Wayne Wayne Couzens as she walked home.
A petition calling for nightclubs to be legally required to search guests on arrival for weapons and ‘date rape’ drugs has reached over 61,000 signatures.
SNP MP Evelyn Tweed wrote to Police Scotland at the weekend to voice concerns over the growing number of spiking reports.
She tweeted: “I’ve been contacted by a no. of concerned constituents regarding reports of drink spiking having taken place at a bar in Stirling this weekend.
“These reports are very worrying and I’ve raised the concerns of my constituents with Police Scotland today.”
Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome also said she is in contact with the police following reports of a student being spiked with a needle at Przym nightclub in the city.
She tweeted: “I’m aware of extremely concerning reports of suspected spiking in Nottingham nightclubs, including by injection, and am in discussion with @nottswomenscent.
If you have any information, please get in touch with @nottspolice, @nottswomenscent or me.”
SWNS