Broadcaster Kate McCann has revealed that she was spiked in a bar on a night out by a ‘brazen’ group of men who did it in plain sight and ‘didn’t care who saw it happen.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Times Radio host shared details of her awful experience in a response to an article about the drink and drugs spiking epidemic in Britain.
The 35-year-old said: ‘I had my drink spiked in a bar by a group of men so brazen they didn’t care who saw.
‘A colleague spotted them, thought we’d be OK as I’d only had one sip but sadly it was enough.
‘It was awful and I was lucky. Still don’t understand why they did it. It’s SO scarily common.’
Today on her Times Radio Sunday Morning show the host said she went to the toilet and couldn’t think straight but managed to book and get in an Uber.
However, Ms McCann said she ‘doesn’t remember the journey home or getting in the house’ and ‘woke up at 4 in the morning on my bathroom floor’.
Have YOU been a victim of spiking and want to share your experience? Email [email protected]
Broadcaster Kate McCann last night revealed that she was spiked in a bar on a night out by a ‘brazen’ group of men who did it in plain sight and ‘didn’t care who saw it happen
In a post on X, formerly Twitter , the Times Radio host shared details of her awful experience in a response to an article about the drink and drugs spiking epidemic in Britain
Ms McCann’s reply to someone who had chimed in on the conversation and shared that their husband has once been spiked
Replies to her post from people with similar experiences flooded in with one X user sharing that her husband had once been spiked.
Ms McCann replied: ‘That’s awful. It’s such a strange thing, I still can’t work out what they had to gain?
She added: ‘I was in a big group and there was no way to isolate me really – I don’t understand the point. Perhaps best not to think too hard about it maybe.’
One reply that seems to challenge the idea that spiking is a common problem said: ‘I hear a lot about it and also have never met anyone that has had the experience either. So It’s not 1% of people that go on a night out even is it, is my point.’
The Political Editor responded: ‘Anecdote definitely doesn’t match data – I think that’s a very good argument for more work to be done to figure out exactly how widespread it is.
‘When I mentioned it to friends a number had similar experiences or knew people who had, so I think it’s just not openly discussed.’
Responding to someone who challenged show common spiking is Ms McCann said: ‘Anecdote definitely doesn’t match data – I think that’s a very good argument for more work to be done to figure out exactly how widespread it is’
A YouGov poll revealed that 11 per cent of women and 6 per cent of men said they had been spiked
The Political Editor responding to a reply that seems to challenge how common spiking is
In another post Ms McCann talks about the difference between the feeling of being drunk and the feeling of being spiked
In another post Ms McCann spoke about the difference in feeling drunk compared to the feeling of being spiked.
She said: ‘The one thing I would say about whether people get confused about just being too drunk is that being spiked feels nothing like being drunk – even really really drunk.
‘It’s a totally different and really horrid feeling which you KNOW isn’t just alcohol. Like being out of your body.’
In 2022 Ms McCann fainted and collapsed live on air during a Tory leadership debate between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
Around half-an-hour into the televised debate a loud noise cause Ms Truss, who was the Foreign Secretary at the time, to hold her face in shock as she exclaimed: ‘Oh my God!’. Ms Truss was then seen leaving her podium and walking towards where Ms McCann had been standing. Mr Sunak also went over to hold her hand.
The broadcast feed was swiftly cut and the debate was subsequently cancelled on the advice of medical experts present at the studio in Ealing, west London.
McCann said there had been ‘no warning signs’ prior to the incident other than normal ‘good heart-hammering nerves’ when the debate went live.
Spiking victims are often targeted in places like nightclubs, bars, house parties, work events and festivals.
Data on spiking doesn’t truly reveal how common the practice is because so many victims do not report it to the police who have only recently started tracking the figures.
Between 2022 and 2023 the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) registered 6,732 spiking incidents reported to the police, 4,643 of which were administered by drink, 957 by needle and the remainder by unspecified means.
However, the true figures are thought to be a lot higher.
A YouGov poll revealed that 11 per cent of women and 6 per cent of men said they had been spiked.
Conservative MP Laura Farris told The Sunday Times: ‘Spiking is now part of an MP’s weekly casework.
‘People, mostly a parent of the victim, increasingly write to say this is an issue. It happens often.’
There has long been calls for ministers to make needle and drink spiking a special offence.
In December the Home Office announced and set out a number of practical steps it is taking to protect people and crackdown on spikers.
This included staff at venues that attract spikers being given training on how to spot them and more investment in drink spiking tests.
Confusion, hallucinations and suddenly acting paranoid are among the signs that a person’s drink has been spiked
In October a teacher called for better ID checks at nightclubs after she was spiked by injection causing her to collapse and vomit repeatedly.
Chrissy Childerley, 31, has no recollection of what happened to her after she was approached by two men on a night out at Vinyl in Cambridge.
She believes one man pretended to be drunk and jabbed her when he bumped into her, while the other distracted her by engaging her in conversation.
The men disappeared when her partner, Tom Knell, returned from the toilet and she fears they would have taken her with them otherwise.
Police were unable to identify the men from CCTV footage in the club, which was obscured because Miss Childerley was sitting in a ‘blind spot’.
Primary school teacher Chrissy Childerley (pictured with her partner Tom Knell) has no recollection of what happened to her after she was approached by two men on a night out
Miss Childerley believes a man pretended to be drunk and jabbed her while his friend distracted her
Police were contacted two days after the August 5 incident but were unable to take any action following an investigation. Pictured: A hole where Miss Childerley believes she was jabbed
It wasn’t possible to take blood or urine samples because she waited two days before reporting the incident as she was ill, in shock and also caring for her unwell son.
‘It’s really scary thinking what might have happened if my partner hadn’t got back in time. They could have taken me outside,’ said the 31-year-old who later discovered a puncture wound and bruises on her left thigh.
In April last year a former Arsenal Academy star Daniel Cain, now 23, had his drink ‘spiked’ on a night out and is now tetraplegic, confined to a wheelchair and requires 24-hour care.
After being taken to hospital, the footballer was in a coma for 25 days as doctors told his loved ones to prepare for the worst – that he would not recover.
Daniel Cain, now 23, from Hemel Hemstead, Hertfordshire, had been a fit and healthy young footballer
He was left tetraplegic after suffering a cardiac arrest after his drink was spiked on a night out
Despite the odds, the young man did wake up from his coma, although was initially unable to do anything at all.
Over time, Daniel began to recover his cognitive functions and limited movement – his mother said that although his short-term memory had been impacted, his long-term memory is intact.
He is now wheelchair bound and also has limited upper-body movement, meaning he requires full time care. He is dependent on his family, needing to be hoisted in and out of bed and taken to the bathroom.
Researchers, lawyers and activists say that the crime is severely under-reported and poorly investigated.
Victims are allegedly passed between departments and services for a few hours until the drugs have left their system and their is no evidence left.
Channel 4 sent an FoI request to all 43 of the UK’s police forces asking for statistics on how many spiking incidents reported to them resulted in a charge.
39 of the forces handed over their figures which revealed that 0.25 per cent of spiking incidents reported to the police had resulted in a charge.
Love Island star Sharon Gaffka last year revealed that she ‘couldn’t talk at all’ and was ‘completely unconscious’ after her drink was spiked during lunch with friends in a bar.
Ms Gaffka has previously spoken of how she hit her head on a toilet and was found wedged behind a locked cubicle door after her drink was interfered with while out celebrating a friend’s birthday.
She said two male paramedics attended but passed her off as someone who had been ‘over drinking’ rather than a victim of spiking.
Since then Ms Gaffka has been calling for the government to modernise the laws around spiking.
Have YOU been a victim of spiking and want to share your experience? Email [email protected]