by I knew I was cutting it fine – trying to squeeze in one last evening with old friends before one last night with my family, before leaving home. “A few hours,” I told my parents, who were planning to send me a takeaway pizza.
The crowd at the pub was much bigger than I expected (“you’re barely here! Why wouldn’t everyone come?” said my best friend, happily) and it was difficult to make a way around everyone. I became anxious, knowing that my family was expecting me home; more so when I saw how low my phone battery was. Not wanting to rely on their diminished strength to get an Uber, I said goodbye to everyone and told them I was going to go out into the street and hail a taxi.
After one last bathroom trip and a final goodbye flurry, someone from the crowd – an old acquaintance, but not one of our core group – stepped forward. “I have to come home too,” he said. “My wife has dinner ready – I’ll give you a lift.”
He had half a glass of wine in his hand. He considered briefly; with sadness “I’d better not drive for two,” he laughed, handing it to me.
“Oooh, a shared glass? Not very Covid friendly!” I joked, downing his remains in one.
We walked to his car. Hours later, I walked 7km home. My shoe was broken, its strap flapping uselessly. The next morning, my parents refused to speak to me, believing that I would willfully choose a wild night out with old friends over night with my family. I could not explain to them. I bundled the clothes I was wearing into a plastic bag and later, at the airport, put them in a public bin.
In December 2022, the National Council of Police Chiefs revealed that almost 5,000 incidents of espionage had been reported across England and Wales – and it was proof that I was in my late 40s when it occurred to me that it wasn’t just young people. is at risk.
With the Christmas season once again upon us, the Home Office has announced its intention to make it clear that flashing is illegal, with plans to amend the Criminal Justice Bill and the Offenses Against the Man 1861 to modernize.
But such measures are unlikely to go away for long says Millie*, who was spiked on her birthday in 2021 – more needs to be done to inform staff, police and ambulance crews that someone may have been the victim of a violent crime.
Millie was in a car park, dressed in her pajamas and wearing two left trainers when she was finally attended by an ambulance crew, who did not take her to hospital, and did not give her blood tests. “My call log shows the number of times I tried to call the emergency services, but I couldn’t enter the three digits,” she says. “It took someone to pass to make the call; I listened to the recording of the call and the woman’s description of me, as well as the sound of me screaming in the background, is very disturbing.” She believes that training for first responders must teach them “professional curiosity” when attending incidents and that they “should be aware that people who show up drunk or hungry could be victims of crime spun”.
The fact that Millie’s spiking experience was so different from my own is further evidence that officers need to be informed that there is no ‘standard’ for how spiking victims can behave. Although I was unconscious for four hours and have only a vague recollection of saying that I didn’t feel right, before the car was pulled back and the seat was put in, Millie reports that it is mostly functional. more, although it is acting in ways. which was very out of character.
“My state of mind went from overwhelming horror and fear to fulfillment,” she says. “Later, I walked back to my friend’s flat, leaving her at the bar: we wouldn’t normally be left alone on a night out. Back at her place, I experienced a strange kind of euphoria, starting to clean the kitchen and telling myself she was out dancing and having fun. This was not normal behaviour.” It was only hours later that she found herself, screaming and hyperventilating in the parking lot, calling desperately for help believing she was going to die.
Updating the existing laws is certainly a long step in the right direction, but Millie and I both believe that an independent anti-espionage law needs to be introduced to reflect the seriousness of the offense and its prevalence in a modern setting . It is likely that the number of reported cases is only a fraction of the true total. In fact, because flashbacks can take many forms and affect people so differently, many victims can be reluctant to report the crime, believing they were wrong, wondering if perhaps too much for them to drink. This is aided by the victim-blaming culture of crime spree, with bystanders and those with a duty of care all too often dismissing victims of espionage as self-inflicted. How many times could a victim of the crime of espionage have been removed from licensed premises by a doorman or barman, without being delivered straight into the hands of the person who spied on them?
The lack of readily available support for victims of espionage does not help with self-doubt. “Traumatic crime victims should be provided with professional mental health support,” says Millie. She, like me, found her relationships influenced by her experience of spiking: just as my family turned against me, in a split that took almost a year to repair, her friend, who was also spiked, did cut ties with her, unwanted. that they would be reminded of the incident and the fear of trouble if they sought to trust.
It must also be recognized that, just as it is not only women who can be victims of violent crime, it is not only men who can be perpetrators: Annabel* was 24 when she was left in a skip after teasing her a drink. his lover’s ex-girlfriend. Although she has no recollection of trying to call her parents, they were eventually able to find her, thanks to the ‘Find My’ enabled on her phone.
With my own daughter now of legal drinking age, changes to existing laws and implementation of new laws cannot come soon enough. Like Millie, I want the crime of espionage to be recognized, through educational campaigns that help make the perpetrators aware of the illegality of the act; victims to be assured that they are not wronged and that they will be supported in seeking justice and coming to terms with their experiences; and police officers, emergency call operators and ambulance crews are well-versed in how to help and advise victims.
“The way the police deal (or don’t) with flashbacks is consistent – and not just between different forces, but from officer to officer,” says Millie, who found her dealings with the police to be one barrier after another. each other on her. “It shouldn’t take a dead body to prompt the authorities to take action. A new exciting offense would support the systemic change that is needed and a clear process that must be followed in the way these espionage crimes are handled.”
*Names have been changed
If you or someone you know has been a victim of spin crime, visit spikeawareuk.org
