Oxfordshire man developed kit to combat spiking epidemic
Mark was spiked whilst looking after his children at a family festival
A victim of spoking from Oxfordshire has developed a kit allowing people to test their drinks to help combat spiking.
Figures show 6.6 million Brits have been spiked during their lifetime, and a further 11.7 million know someone who has.
It also reveals that 11% of people in the South East have fallen victim to the crime.
Mark Ackred from Upper Milton in Oxfordshire is Founder of CounterSpike, which he started after being spiked at a family festival whilst looking after his children.
He said: “I've definitely drunk less at these events and been very careful about keeping my drink with me at all times and not accepting a drink from someone else.
“There's an understanding that when you're at a wine tasting thing and that they wouldn't be tampered with and it clearly wasn't just for me, it was obviously random, and that's even more scary.”
The government’s introduction of a new offence under the Policing Crime Bill, aims to make it easier to prosecute those who administer harmful substances without consent.
Mr Ackred says there also needs to be education around spiking, he said: “It's great that we're changing legislation, but I think that we need to go back to the root cause.
“If you explain to young men about the net consequence of them spiking someone, that can only be a good thing. I'm sure that they don't understand those consequences and that they might think it's funny. They might think it's a bit of Russian roulette.
“But if you spike someone and they're left in a state where they can't defend themselves, that's a that's a real issue.”
Statistics:
According to latest government figures, there were 6,372 reports of spiking to the police in the year ending April 2023 – with middle-aged adults (35-52) increasingly more represented in police and hospital data, especially in incidents linked to robbery and theft.
Research by CounterSpike also shows that over half of those who have been spiked felt ‘safe’ before it happened. Around the same, 52% say they feel the drinks spiking epidemic is on the rise.
One fifth (22%) of victims neither reported or told anyone about being spiked and only 11% reported their incident to the police.
17% of people say they were too embarrassed while the same proportion didn’t think they would be taken seriously.
The survey also reveals that over a quarter (27%) of UK adults leave their drinks unattended in pubs.