EXCLUSIVE: Drinks spiking in Leeds doubled over last three years

Figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests show that spiking in Leeds is on the rise, while no one has been charged. Since 2015, cases of spiking, where a drug is unknowingly added to someone's food or drink, have risen from 10 to 55 in 2019.

Over the last five years ten arrests have been made by West Yorkshire Police but none resulted in a charge.

It comes after one of Britain's most dangerous sexual offenders, a student at Leeds University, was jailed after spiking his victims. Reynhard Sinaga's trial heard that he went out in the early hours of the morning, hunting for lone, drunk young men around nightclubs near his flat.

The slightly-built student posed as a Good Samaritan who offered them a floor to sleep on or promised them more drink.

His victims - who were mainly heterosexual - had little or no memory of the hours that followed as Sinaga repeatedly raped many of them.

It is thought he laced alcoholic drinks with a drug such as GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy.

He was caught when one of his victims regained consciousness and fought him off before going to the police and, crucially, handing in Sinaga's phone.

Sinaga was found guilty of a total of 159 offences committed between January 2015 and May 2017.

Belle is from Ossett and had her drink spiked on a night out in Leeds. She said: "I have zero recollection of the evening. It's like I shut my eyes and then I woke up about nine hours later.

"If my friend hadn't been with me who knows what could have happened."

She said she had been in a busy bar in the city centre when, after only have one alcoholic drink, she suddenly went completely floppy.

She said it has completely changed her attitude towards the idea of spiking.

She said: "I think there's this preconceived notion that a girl who says they've been spiked has actually just had a few too many drinks.

"And I thought the same thing before this happened to me so I don't think we realise how prevalent the problem is.

"But how do you find the perpetrator? Maybe setting up a hotline might help but there doesn't seem at this point any effective way to police it."

Detective Chief Inspector Allan Raw, who heads Leeds District Safeguarding Unit, said: “It would require a more detailed analysis of each of these incidents to draw any firm conclusions, but what the figures do show is that incidents of drink spiking remain extremely rare in comparison to other types of crime.

“The figures are likely to cover a broad range of circumstances, potentially involving people known to each other or in domestic situations, and not necessarily what people might see as the ‘classic’ spiking scenario of a stranger offender in the night-time economy.

“That said, we regularly look to warn and educate people about staying safe on a night out and our advice includes never leaving your drink unattended or accepting a drink from a stranger.

“This continuing work to raise awareness of the potential for drinks to be spiked, together with our improved recording of reported crime, could explain the increase in the figures over recent years.

“The nature of these offences can present some real challenges in identifying suspects and, as ever, we can only proceed to charges where we have the necessary evidence. We would always encourage people to report any offences immediately so that all available evidence can be preserved.

“We regularly conduct operations in the city’s night-time economy alongside our partner agencies as part of our efforts to keep people safe, and our advice remains that people should stick with their friends, plan their journeys home in advance and report anything suspicious immediately to the police or staff at premises.”