Spiking Incidents Involving Vapes
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/25/002759/L
Version Date: 27/02/2025
The Performance Analysis Department have provided the following information.
Searches were completed on Niche for all crimes which contained the following key words within the occurrence entry log: ‘spike’ or ‘ spiking’ and ‘vape’.
From these results, I then filtered the occurrences down to the following, relevant offences:
- Cause administer poison / noxious thing with intent to injure / aggrieve / annoy (recordable)
- Administer substance with intent to stupefy / overpower to allow sexual activity (recordable)
- Apply / administer / attempt / cause to be taken a drug with intent to commit an indictable offence (recordable)
- Administer poison with intent to endanger life / inflict grievous bodily harm (recordable)
A manual review was completed to determine whether the spiking was of a vape, the drug reported to have been used to spike, and whether the victim attended hospital.
Confirmed or suspected spiking incidents involving vapes or similar over the last 5 years (2020, 21, 22, 23, 24 – i.e. attended / charged / investigated incidents)
Please note that the below are suspected.
|
SC Description |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
Administer substance with intent to stupefy / overpower to allow sexual activity (recordable) |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Apply / administer / attempt / cause to be taken a drug with intent to commit an indictable offence (recordable) |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Cause administer poison / noxious thing with intent to injure / aggrieve / annoy (recordable) |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
|
Total |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
|
Latest Stats Class Status |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
14: Victim declines/unable to support action to identify offender |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
18: Investigation complete no suspect identified |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
|
|
New |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Total |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
Please note that the status ‘New’ means under investigation.
I would like this information broken down by the following, where available:
• Age
|
Victim Age |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
Under 18 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
18-24 |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
35-44 |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
45-54 |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Total |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
No information held for suspect ages.
Gender
|
Victim Gender |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
Female |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
|
|
Male |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Total |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
No information held for suspect genders.
Whether the incident occurred at a place of education, for example school or college
Nil return.
Whether the victim required any treatment at hospital
|
Victim Hospitalised? |
2021 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
Yes |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
|
Total |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
Date of the incident
|
Date |
Count |
|
October 2021 |
1 |
|
May 2022 |
1 |
|
November 2023 |
1 |
|
November 2023 |
1 |
|
March 2024 |
1 |
|
September 2024 |
1 |
|
Total |
6 |
The drugs involved i.e. spice, nitazenes
|
Drug Type |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
N-Dimethyltryptamine |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Tetrahydrocannabinol |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Unknown |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
|
|
Total |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
Background:
I don’t know how these offences may be recorded in your system, but the range of crimes listed could include:
• Administering drug with intent to commit indictable offence
• Administering poison so as to endanger life
• Use of noxious substances of things to cause harm and intimidate
• Administering poison with intent to injure or annoy
• Administering a substance with intent
Please where possible cross reference these offences with records that directly mention spiking and vapes.