An ex-Love Island contestant whose drink was spiked is hoping that making it a specific crime will help educate people on the issue and reduce victim shaming.
Sharon Gaffka was left unconscious in a restaurant toilet cubicle after the incident four years ago.
She said paramedics dismissed her as being drunk, no one was prosecuted and she was never given her blood test results by the hospital.
Spiking is currently prosecuted as assault or under the Offences Against the Person Act, but the government is now making it its own offence for the first time.
Ms Gaffka believes she knows which group was responsible for spiking her and said her symptoms were in line with GHB, a colourless oily liquid with effects similar to alcohol.
“Had we taken that glass to the police or had it forensically tested and it had GHB in it, that’s solid evidence to go through CCTV at the venue and go down a criminal prosecution,” she told Sky News.
Now a campaigner on the issue, Ms Gaffka said she hopes having a bespoke law will mean emergency services “know what they’re doing in the future” in potential spiking cases.
“I don’t think it will prevent new cases itself but it will go a long way in terms of education,” she told Sky’s Matt Barbet.
“I think there’s [currently] so many different areas to look at, whereas now it’s going to be in one place, it’s going to be black and white. We know exactly what it is.”
“It will go a long way in terms of how we educate people on things like spiking and the victim shaming that goes around these types of crimes,” she added.
Spiking. Pic: iStock
Ms Gaffka, who appeared in the 2021 series of Love Island, said her spiking incident happened in the daytime in a restaurant.
Most reported incidents (80%) happen in public places – with almost half in bars, followed by nightclubs, according to data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
Police in England and Wales received 6,732 reports in the year to April 2023 – with 957 relating to needle spiking.
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People are advised to never leave a drink unattended and be cautious if someone gives them a drink or offers to buy one for them.
Ms Gaffka said some believe lids on drinks in some venues could also help reduce spiking cases.
The new law was announced in Wednesday’s King’s Speech, in which the Labour government spelled out which legislation it plans to bring in.
“I’ve been campaigning on this for three years and had the same response of consistently hitting brick walls while seeing reported cases going up – it was good to hear the King mention it today,” said Ms Gaffka.
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Dawn Dines, founder of the group Stamp Out Spiking, said making it spiking specific offence would “show a clear sign of zero tolerance”.
“It will give us the data we need to show how prevalent spiking is, in which areas,” she told Sky News.
“And it will also hopefully get the current government to put some funding into the spiking issue so that we can train people on the typical signs and symptoms of spiking – show them videos of what people look like and what they act like.”