A woman from Suffolk wants there to be more support for victims of spiking
Previously spiking was classed under assault but a new bill has been introduced by the labour government making it a specific offence
Last updated 23rd Jul 2024
A woman from Suffolk says the new bill making spiking a specific offence will help provide closure for those who have gone through it.
Until now, spiking was deemed a form of assault under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. The Labour government introduced a new bill, making it a specific offence.
22-year-old Nina Galley was spiked via her drink on a night out in 2021. She told us she had no recollection of the night.
"I know what it's like to be drunk and it was compeletely different to that.
"The next day I woke up in my bed, I had no idea what had happened.
"My friends had sent me videos of me slouched over the table, sloched over my friends. Just not really conscious of what was going on around me."
She said her friends could tell that something was wrong and called her Dad to come pick her up.
In the morning she asked her friends what had happened, and they began to fill in the blanks. - but it wasn't until they realised one of Nina's friends had a needle mark on her arm, they established they had been spiked.
They checked Nina for needle marks but found nothing. She remembered only having one drink at the club and concluded someone must have slipped something in her drink.
3 years later it still affects her
"I am always still really conscious of my drink, (and) of my surroundings.
"Even a even a few months ago I was at my friends and we were about to go out and I literally had a panic attack and had to go home because it all came back to my head for some reason in that moment...
"I do have random times where it does all flood back into my head and then I get really anxious and can't do what I said I would do with my friends."
"'I've never honestly experienced anything like that in my life."
Nina decided to go to the doctor but unfortunately, because it was +48 hours later, she was told they wouldn't be able to find anything.
She also wants to see staff at pubs, bars and clubs have better training in spotting the signs that someone has been spiked.
She told us the security at the club where she was spiked just thought she was "too drunk."
"One of friends, who was spiked that night as well, got chucked out on the street.
"I just think, it's really kind of disgraceful that security are supposed to be there to make to feel a sense of care and safety when that was the furthest thing that we felt."
She is hoping this new bill will provide closure for herself and others.
"It's important not just me, but so many other people who didnt get closure in their spiking investigation because I know somany others that were in the same situation as me, where nothing could really be done."