Nottinghamshire Police receive 146 needle spiking reports

A police force says it has received 146 reports of spiking where the victims believe they were injected with a needle in the past two months.

Since October 2021, Nottinghamshire Police said there were also 143 instances of people "potentially having their drink spiked".

Nine arrests have been made as part of their inquiries but so far, no-one has been charged.

It comes as the force urged revellers celebrating Christmas to stay safe.

The majority of needle spiking reports have come from women, but there have also been reports from men, the force said.

Police increased patrols in Nottingham city centre after a number of women came forward to speak about their experiences.

This included 19-year-old Sarah Buckle, who woke up in hospital with a pin prick wound on her hand after a suspected spiking incident in a Nottingham nightclub in September.

Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin said officers would be on hand if members of the public needed assistance.

"I understand that when people see these numbers of reports that it can cause concern," he said.

"However, I want to provide those visiting our city centre with the reassurance that this number is caused in part by increased confidence to report."

He said none of the reported offences had been witnessed, adding their investigations into the cause of any injury have "often been inconclusive".

"As part of our immediate response we have used drug testing kits and on some occasions have sent samples for further examination and analysis.

"To date we have only found evidence in one sample of prohibited substances. These were ketamine and cocaine.

"Unfortunately, the time delay, which is often inevitable, between the incident happening and a report to the police can affect the forensic window, which is extremely narrow.

"I therefore really encourage people to report incidents just as soon as they know about them," he added.

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