Sunderland woman urging people to take care against spiking over festive period
Emilie Ross was spiked whilst having drinks with friends.
A Sunderland woman is urging people to stay safe from spiking over the festive period.
Emilie Ross tells us how she has been spiked twice over the last few years - once with her drink and another with a needle.
She says it is important to raise awareness of spiking and believes that it should be a punishable crime.
Emilie told us about her experiences and said that being spiked was absolutely "terrifying".
She said: "I remember having to stop on a step and sit down because I just couldn't feel my legs. If I felt anything it was just heaviness. I felt like I couldn't really move them, and I felt like I was struggling to walk.
"I took my make-up off and started to get changed and that's when I noticed on my leg that there was a mark and I thought to myself, have I been spiked with a needle?
"I woke up on the morning and I just felt like I couldn't move. I managed to kind of crawl out of bed, but my legs were just shaking really, really shaking and it was kind of like ricocheting through my entire body. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought I look dreadful. I don't just look hungover.
"Being spiked with a needle was so dehumanising, in a sense. It's such a violating thing for somebody to be able to do that. It makes you feel sick that people can even do that in the first place because you have absolutely no idea what people have put into your body."