Drink-spiking is a growing menace in pubs and clubs across the country, with many women falling victim to date-rape...
IMAGINE groggily waking up in a strange house, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, with not a single memory of the past ten hours.
It's a terrifying thought, but it happened to a 28-year-old in Southampton earlier this year.
Strangers found her mumbling and wandering aimlessly in a street - after she'd been drinking at a city club - and took her in.
And it's a sequence of events that's becoming all too common for scores of women who are increasingly falling victim to date-rape.
Now a Hampshire MP is on a
mission to stamp out the horrors of drink-spiking.
The Lib Dems' spokesman on women's issues, Sandra Gidley, knows just how frightening the prospect is.
Her daughter Gemma, 22, was targeted while socialising in a London pub.
It was an incident that shocked mother-of-two Mrs Gidley - and alerted her to the sweeping trend of secret drugging which she says is vastly under-reported.
She's now lent her backing to a simple new invention that could wipe out the risk for good.
"I'm sure it's far bigger a problem than anyone realises or admits. Nearly everybody knows somebody who it's happened to," said the Romsey MP.
"But it goes unreported because women feel they have allowed it in some way, when clearly they haven't.
"The government seems to be in some denial.
"Drink-spiking almost feeds the pornography industry as well because people who indulge in this take photos or videos for personal or other use. It's a very sinister thing.
"The people who do this get away with it because any woman who goes to the police can't remember what happened, and the drugs quickly go out of their system."
According to figures, the south-east has the second highest number of date-rape victims in the UK, just 150 fewer than London.
The increase in those figures since 2001 is also near the top of the national scale.
This month a West Sussex man unveiled his tamper-proof bottle stopper - an invention he hopes will help eradicate date-rape.
The device, called a spikey, fits into the neck of a beer or alcopop bottle and a straw is pushed through the stopper. Once in place, it cannot be removed. Crucially, it creates a seal that makes it impossible to add anything to the drink.
Inventor Ray Lockett came up with the idea after his daughter Marilyn Henshaw, a model, was targeted by a drink-spiker on her 21st birthday.
She had not been drinking alcohol, but became woozy and unable to stand. Fortunately, quick-thinking friends took her home straight away.
Now Mrs Gidley is calling on pubs, shops and the drinks industry to take an interest in the invention.
"They are trying to get these stoppers sold in supermarkets so people can buy them and do it themselves," she said.
"Clubs are being targeted and they do try to use them, but the majority of recorded incidents are in pubs, not clubs, because people are less on their guard there. It needs the whole of the drinks industry to back this idea."
She also said that office parties were a hot spot for drink-spiking, and urged workers to be on the lookout for suspicious behaviour or sudden drunkenness this Christmas.
"Come party season, I would just encourage people to be aware and keep an eye on their friends for odd behaviour. We need to think of taking care of friends as a service."
IF IT CAN HAPPPEN TO MY GEMMA THEN IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYBODY:
Gemma Gidley, 22, was in a pub in London with work colleagues when her drink was spiked.
She remembered hearing someone say "I didn't think it would do that to her," and one of the men she was with offered to take her home.
Gemma immediately called her boyfriend to pick her up and, more importantly, turned down the offer of a lift.
"She can't actually remember going home," said mum Sandra. "It's a bit worrying and there's that period where anything could have happened - but fortunately she was sensible enough to call someone she trusted."
She added that Gemma had not told her immediately, and it only came up in conversation when the MP started investigating the growing drink-spiking phenomenon.
"I just happened to be talking to her about it and she said 'Oh, I never told you what happened to me.' She was quite embarrassed about it and never went to the police because she couldn't remember anything.
"She's fine now and suffered no long-term effects.
"But it just got me thinking that if it can happen to my daughter, who's sensible and street-wise, then it can happen to anybody."
For more information contact the Roofie Foundation, the organisation run by the inventor of spikeys. Call the helpline on 0800 783 2980.
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