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Brighton and Eastbourne injection spiking: Police investigate seven reports

Getty Images A wine glass and pint of beer on a bar.Getty Images
Sussex Police are urging any victims to come forward for testing to secure evidence.

Police are investigating seven reports of women being spiked by injection in two seaside towns over the last week.

Six women in Brighton and one woman in Eastbourne reported being injected on nights out on or after October 19.

Sussex Police say they are deploying more officers at night, and will patrol bars, clubs and restaurants.

It comes as students in Kent join a national campaign to boycott nightclubs over concerns about a recent rise in spiking incidents.

Ch Supt Justin Burtenshaw, from Sussex Police, said: "Everybody has the right to enjoy a night out in safety and we fully understand the concerns around these troubling reports, not only in Sussex but across the country.

"Please be assured that we take all reports incredibly seriously."

A young woman with long blonde hair, wearing a black top, looks at the camera.
Ms Taylor says protests will continue until spiking is taken seriously by nightclubs and bars.

In an open letter to University leaders in Canterbury, local members of campaign group Girls Night In called for spiking test kits, drink lids and specialist spiking training for all night-time venues.

Student Mia Taylor, 20, said boycotts elsewhere in the country inspired her to lead the campaign in Canterbury, and she hopes the movement will achieve "permanent change in nightclubs and bars".

Earlier this month another Canterbury student, 21-year-old Zoe Hamer, woke up in hospital after a suspected spiking.

The planned boycott of venues by some students will take place on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend spoke out about drink spiking as she revealed she was once spiked when she was in her twenties, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Ms Townsend said that she had no memories of getting home from the night out in Sheffield when she was a student, and didn't report the incident at the time.

She added: "When I went back to the club a few days later to say this happened, they said: 'Oh, it can't have happened in this club, because we don't have that kind here.""

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