Two teenage girls claimed they were ‘spiked’ in Stoke nightclub

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Two young women have told how they ‘blacked out’ after being ‘spiked’ by a needle in a Stoke-on-Trent nightclub, before both ended up in A&E.

Elle Vickers, 18, and Ellen Baldwin, 19, believe they were injected with an unknown drug after arriving at Fiction nightclub at 1.30am on Saturday.

The friends have no recollection of what happened after ‘blacking out’ – but both woke to discover suspicious pin-prick mark on their skin. 

And, they claim their ordeal was made worse by NHS medics suggesting they had simply had too much to drink.

Staffordshire Police have now launched an invesigation. 

Ms Vickers’ first memory was when she woke up covered in bruises and scratches with what appeared to be a puncture wound in her thigh.

Meanwhile, Ellen says she cannot recall what happened but was told police had taken her to the Royal Stoke University Hospital amid concerns for her well-being.

She was discharged within half an hour but the Keele University students returned twice to hospital later that day after seeking advice.

Now Staffordshire Police have launched an investigation into the ‘spiking’ incidents, which the pair allege happened in the early hours of Saturday after arriving at Fiction at 1.30am.

More than 1,300 reports of needle spiking have been made to police forces across Britain since September, MPs have heard – while one force warned a ‘staggering’ number of victims still do not report the crime.

Jason Harwin, the National Police Chiefs Council drugs lead, told the Home Affairs Committee last month that the 1,382 reports, made since September last year, represent a ‘widespread’ problem in the UK on a scale he has ‘never seen before’.

The shocking figure is close to the 1,903 reports of spiking made throughout the whole of 2019.

Both women shared their ordeal on Facebook, and have raised concerns that their experience was not taken seriously by NHS medics, who they claim assumed they had simply had too much to drink.

It comes as Fiction nightclub has today moved to reassure clubbers that it takes ‘robust action’ to protect its customers with staff ‘fully trained’ on the issue of drink spiking.

Ms Vickers, from Cheadle, Greater Manchester said: ‘Both of us blacked out and have no recollection of the vast majority of the night.

‘My friend was taken to Royal Stoke by the police.

‘I was alone for the rest of the night with no memory of what could of happened to me within this period of time. I woke up to find myself covered in bruises and scratches down the inside of my thighs and feeling the worst I have ever felt.

‘I rang 111 to get advice on what to do. I was informed that 111 would ring me back when someone became available. At the point I made the call I was in a cold sweat, could not hold my own head up, my throat was closed making it hard to breathe and my legs and inside my mouth are covered in cuts an bruises.’

Ms Vickers and Ms Baldwin later returned to A&E but were told to see their GPs instead to undergo blood tests.

After being pushed back and forth, Ms Vickers said she was told to go to a walk-in health clinic.

Ms Baldwin added: ‘Me and Ellen completely understand that the NHS is strained and accept that it can be too late to test for the drug that was injected into us and there is nothing that can be done about that, but given my friend went in 45 minutes after symptoms started and was turned away, we felt it was impossible to get help and we’re just being pushed through the system and to be told “are you sure you didn’t just have a couple too many drinks?”.

‘There is a police investigation ongoing and clear injection sites on our thighs.

‘After being alone all night, waking up with injuries in intimate areas and unable to recall huge amounts of the night, I just want to be checked over and given the all clear.’

Ms Vickers said her friends told her they alerted police officers outside Fiction and she was put in a police car and taken to Royal Stoke.

She added: ‘After being in Fiction for about an hour I have no recollection of the entire night until 5am when I was back at my uni accommodation.

‘From what I’ve been told I collapsed outside the nightclub. My friend then got the attention of two police officers, she and my other friends shared there concern to the police that I had been spiked.

‘They shrugged it off, they did not take any names or details, they just bundled me in the back of there car with my boyfriend and dropped me off at A&E.

‘I do not remember leaving Fiction or any of the events that night.

‘When we got to A&E I couldn’t even hold myself. They put me in a wheelchair and covered me in a blanket. I wasn’t able to hold my head up and I was barely communicating.

‘Within half an hour of being there I was discharged and told to come back sober. I believe they didn’t check me over or my body. It wasn’t until the next afternoon I found the puncture wound from the needle in my upper thigh.

‘The next day I had spoken to my friend Elle who had a similar experience. She can’t remember huge chunks of her night and woke up with bruises all over her body with no recollection of what happened to her.’

Both women believe they have been ‘passed around by the NHS’ in the hours and days following their nightmare night out.

Ms Baldwin added: ‘After speaking to the police and 111 they told us to go up to A&E again so they could help us and get checked to make sure we were protected against diseases that could’ve been on the needle and protected against what was injected in us.

‘We were there for 20 minutes before they turned us away, we didn’t even speak to triage they also didn’t even look at the puncture marks. They just said our GP should look at it.

‘We then called our GP to then be told we need to go back to A&E because the GP cannot take bloods from us and that it is also a police matter because it is an assault.

‘After going back to A&E for a third time we again were told that they could not do anything and our GP should sort it out. After again speaking to them they just gave us a call slot to speak to someone at a health centre about taking our bloods.

‘Me and Elle understand that the NHS is under a lot of strain and we know that we are not going to be able to know what was injected in our bodies that night because it is now too late.

‘But we feel that from being turned away so many times from the people that are meant to help us and care for us that we are over-reacting or making it up and we were just too drunk.

‘We are two teenage girls who have been injected by a needle with something we are not aware of and not one person in the NHS has asked to see the wound they have just passed us around.

‘All me and Elle want is someone to look us over and check we are okay.’ 

Warning others to be on their guard, Ms Baldwin added: ‘Please everyone be safe and be aware of your surroundings because it’s not just spiking through drinks anymore.’

A spokesperson for Fiction nightclub said it takes all reports of alleged drink spiking ‘very seriously’ and is offering anti-spiking devices to customers.

In a statement, the nightclub said: ‘Everyone should feel safe on a night out, and they should feel safe in our club. We work hard to create a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment so that all our guests can enjoy a fun night out and will do everything we can to protect this right.

‘While there have been no proven cases of injection spiking in Hanley, as a responsible late night operator, we take all reports of this nature very seriously.

‘Our teams are fully trained on the issue and have the support of our onsite medics, we operate our “We Care” policy and support the “Ask Angela” scheme. We are offering anti-spiking devices to all of our guests and operate 100 per cent searches on entry.

‘We also have extensive CCTV coverage throughout the venue and security teams wear bodycams and will pass on footage to the Police to help with any investigation.

‘We would encourage anyone who sees suspicious behaviour, or suspects they have been a victim, to seek immediate assistance from a member of staff or security, who are trained to help and who also have the support of our onsite first aiders. We would also encourage them to contact police and seek medical advice, so that any allegation can be properly investigated.’

Staffordshire Police are now reviewing CCTV.

A spokesman said: ‘We were called shortly after 6pm on Saturday following reports of a suspicious incident.

‘At around 2am that day, officers working on Operation Safer Nights had assisted a 19-year-old woman to present at hospital after she reported vulnerability, following attending a nightclub in Hanley.

‘She is being supported by specially-trained officers at this time while inquiries continue.

‘Officers are currently reviewing CCTV footage of the area at the time of the incident and ask anyone with information to get in touch.’

Anyone with information is asked to call Staffordshire Police on Facebook, Twitter, or call 101, quoting incident number 597 of February 12. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. 

Cases of spiking on nights out are being ‘underreported quite significantly’, MPs have been told.

The Commons Home Affairs Committee heard that needle spiking has become more common post-lockdown, but victims and premises are ‘reluctant’ to report cases despite the overall number of incidents rising in the past few months.

Committee members, who began an inquiry into spiking last week, heard that victims are ‘predominantly’ but ‘not exclusively’ women aged between 18 and 25, with mostly male offenders.

Paul Fullwood, of the Security Industry Authority (SIA), said there is a lack of data, with a ‘fraction’ of reported night time incidents about spiking and date rape.

He added: ‘Our evidence is that this is underreported quite significantly from what we can see.

‘This is not taking away all the hard work and diligence from people trying to look for these sort of things going on, but it’s underreported.

‘There’s a lack of awareness. There’s a lack of understanding.’

The committee was holding an evidence session into spiking on Wednesday.

Councillor Jeanie Bell, member of the Local Government Association’s safer and stronger communities’ board, said: ‘You’ve almost got like a two-fold problem, where you’ve got people underreporting from people attending venues and often they’ll leave the venue before they realise they’ve been spiked.

‘But then you’ve also got venues who may be reluctant to come forward and say, ”Look, we think we might have a problem here with spiking in our venue, we’re not getting reports but we think that could be an issue”, because they’re then concerned about whether they will be penalised – whether there will be licence revocations – because the licencing authority does actually have quite a considerable amount of power in terms of how to manage premises effectively.’

 However, only seven per cent of drinks that were reportedly spiked in the West Midlands resulted in a positive drugs test, police have said.

A report by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner found that spiking cases have surged in recent months due to ‘heightened awareness’ of the issue, with 95 offences recorded in November.

Figures also showed that spiking offences made up more than one in 10 of all crimes classed as ‘violence with injury’.