Broadcaster Andrew Castle reveals his drink was spiked and woman tried to ‘take advantage’ of him

Broadcaster Andrew Castle has revealed he was ‘beyond function’ after consuming a spiked drink during a night out – and admitted one woman tried to take advantage of him while in his distressed state. 

Speaking on his Sunday morning radio show for LBC, the 57-year-old former British tennis player recalled the incident from 2003 during a night out in central London with friends.

He was discussing the issue amid a reported 198 incidents of drink spiking across the UK, plus 24 reports of people who say they have been injected with ‘date-rape’ drugs while at nightclubs and parties, in the last two months.

Castle told listeners: ‘I’ve taken a spiked drink. I don’t know whether I was the subject of that or whether or not I was sharing a drink with somebody. We had a right old time. There were hens and stags, we had dinner and everyone was dancing. 

‘There is a blimin’ big difference between having your drink spiked and having too much to drink. I was beyond function. 

‘This woman got into a cab with me – and everyone’s going to say that’s your story – well it was not that comfortable. 

‘A woman got into the cab with me and was saying – let me just say – [things that were] unbelievably inappropriate. I was completely out with the fairies on this one.’

He added that he believed the woman wanted ‘[to take] advantage and blackmail and all sorts.’

Describing the situation to his guest, Dawn Dines, CEO and founder of charity Stamp Out Spiking UK (SOS UK), the radio host said the effect on him was that he became ‘compliant’ and vulnerable to those around him.

‘You just float around in a mist that this thing is happening and it’s no good at all.’

He added:  ‘I got really frightened and the adrenalin really kicked in. I got very protective of myself and the situation. I got very tense with the whole thing even though I was off my rocker.’ 

Castle – who at the time was a presenter on ITV breakfast programme, GMTV – said he was left affected for the next 24 hours afterwards. 

‘Everyone had to leave the house. I was rolling around in agony for a whole day.’

Home Secretary Priti Patel last week demanded an urgent update from police investigating the scale of the UK’s so-called ‘spiking epidemic’.

Police chiefs have also been tasked by the Commons Home Affairs Committee to urgently provide more information on their assessment of the scale of the problem after reports of incidents in several parts of the country, including Nottingham, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

Groups from more than 30 universities around the UK have joined an online campaign calling for the boycott of nightclubs, with campaigners seeking ‘tangible’ changes to make them safer, such as covers/stoppers for drinks, better training for staff and more rigorous searches of clubbers.

The Girls’ Night In campaign will spread across 43 university towns and cities over the next fortnight. It comes in response to a reported rise in drinks being ‘spiked’ and a new alarming trend of girls being injected unknowingly with drugs. 

Victims have become violently ill while out and only realised they had been injected when they found ‘pin prick’ marks on their bodies.

Those taking part in the boycott will stay at home on a designated night to raise awareness of the attacks and encourage venues to improve security.

A petition launched last week to make it a legal requirement for nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry has already gained more than 130,000 signatures.

In recent days a number of women have shared their experiences of being spiked, including Ilana El-baz, 20, who recalled how she was ‘left semi-paralysed’ on a staircase after returning home from a Bristol nightclub three weeks ago. 

On Saturday, two teenagers, 18 and 19, were arrested ‘on suspicion of conspiracy to administer poison’ in Nottingham, while a 35-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to administer them at a nightclub in Lincoln. 

According to the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Rohypnol and GHB are two of the most prominent ‘date rape’ drugs used by criminals.  

In the case of GHB, having as little as 2g of the drug – which is often a powder that can be mixed in an alcoholic drink – can result in deep sleep within minutes. 

The half-life of the drug is 27 minutes and is almost impossible to detect after 96 hours.  

Experts warn that Rohypnol is also a powerful sedative with legitimate uses as a pre-anaesthetic or a sleeping pill. 

Used as a date rape drug, it can start affected a victim within ten minutes and reaches a peak some eight hours later. 

It is colourless, odourless and tasteless and causes sedation or euphoria within 20 to 30 minutes of ingestion.