A woman has recalled the terrifying moment her drink was spiked while on a night out in a Fenland town as shocking new figures reveal the scale of the issue.
Krystal Melville, from March, said she became unwell after accepting a shot from an unknown woman while on a night out with friends.
The 20-year-old, who called on people to exercise caution when accepting drinks from strangers, said her body began "to go numb" after less than 10 minutes.
An exclusive investigation by this newspaper found just one report of drink spiking resulted in a charge in the last five years.
According to a Freedom of Information request, Cambridgeshire Constabulary received more than 350 drink spiking reports between 2019 and 2024.
Figures show that of the 359 reports received by the force, 261 were from female victims, 73 from male victims while 25 cases did not specify a gender.
Fenland saw 32 reports of drink spiking across the five-year period, with Cambridge recording the highest number of alleged offences.
Ms Melville said: "I couldn't feel my hands or my legs and everything just felt really numb and I managed to ring my older brother who are in the police force.
"I described my symptoms to them and they said I'd been spiked but said the likelihood of whatever I'd been spiked with showing up in a blood test would be small.
"It was a terrifying experience. When you're in school and you hear about drink spiking, you never think it's going to be you.
She added: "I just fear that if I hadn't managed to get myself safely home what could have happened."
Ms Melville said the effects of the incident have "stayed with her", adding the "fear" of being spiked again has prevented her from going on regular nights out.
She reported the incident to the police and asked the bouncers on duty, but claimed she was "disbelieved" because she had been spiked by a woman.
"Staff claimed that they had checked every man that went into the bar, but didn't believe that a woman could have spiked my drink.
"So it was really a case of my word against theirs and the case ended up getting dropped in the end."
"The incident has put me off even wanting to drink alcohol because I know if I don't drink it, I can't have by drink spiked."
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Across England and Wales, police received 6,732 reports of spiking in the year ending April 2023.
CEO of The Talk About Trust Helena Conibear said tackling drink spiking in the region required a "joined up approach" to better support victims.
She said: "The police have made great strides since 2021 in training officers to be proactive in supporting victims, ensuring victims are tested, doing preventative work in towns and cities and among students and making it much easier to report spiking.
"The shocking lack of prosecutions though has to be addressed and improved drug testing should help with this.
"If victims come forward quicker and pubs and clubs help secure footage, ensure their staff are vigilant and observant and keep any drink that may have been spiked there should be zero tolerance among us all."
It comes after the Labour government announced it would introduce a new law making spiking a specific criminal offence in the King's Speech in a bid to protect victims.
In December, the Home Office said it would amend the Criminal Justice Bill and update the Offences Against The Person Act 1861 to make clear that spiking is illegal after mounting pressure.
Detective Inspector Lindsay Harbour said the force took all reports of drink spiking "very seriously" and will bring prosecutions when it has evidence.
“We also want to prevent spiking and recently we launched a campaign to raise awareness – particularly among students - of how to protect yourself and what to do if you believe you’ve been spiked.
“The prosecution statistics are concerning, however, it’s important to note the challenges in securing evidence for a crime where victims often don’t know they’ve been targeted until sometime later."
Have you got a story you want to share? Get in touch at: oliver.murphy@newsquest.co.uk.
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