Crawley spiking victim urges for more CCTV after case dropped
25-year-old Mollie Penfold began vomiting and was unable to walk after being targeted in the stairwell of a bar
A Crawley woman whose spiking case was dropped over a lack of evidence is urging for more CCTV in venues.
25-year-old Mollie Penfold began vomiting and was unable to walk after she was targeted in the stairwell of a bar.
"The stairwell was very narrow and there was a man waiting at the bottom of the step," she told Greatest Hits Radio.
" As I came back down, he came up and bumped into me and held onto my arm.
"About 10 minutes after that, I have no recollection of the rest of the day."
She believes she was spiked with a needle - but police later told her that due to a lack of CCTV in the venue, they would be unable to take her case any further.
"I was left with this massive trauma.
"Even now, if I walk past somebody, even if I'm just down the shops, I tense my arms close to me.
"I don't go to the toilet by myself, I don't go to the bar by myself.
"I really struggle going out and seeing my friends.
"I just remember feeling really angry that someone had had done this to me."
Mollie has since started a petition calling for venues to be legally required to cover all areas with cameras - including leading up to and around toilet facilities.
She's hoping to empower victims to speak up:
"When I told people my story and when I released the petition, the amount of people who contacted me and said 'this happened to me, this happened to my friend, this happened to my brother, my husband, my girlfriend' - many of them said they didn't report it because they didn't see the point.
"It got me thinking if this level of security was installed, then potentially more people could report it."
You can sign the petition here.