Nightclub spiking: Devon and Cornwall police launch probe alleged needle ...

An investigation has today been launched into another incident in which a woman claims she was attacked with a needle inside a nightclub.

Devon and Cornwall Police say a woman reported being assaulted in Fever & Boutique in Exeter on Saturday October 16. 

It comes as Home Secretary Priti Patel yesterday demanded an urgent update from police investigating the scale of the UK's so-called 'spiking epidemic', amid a rise in claims that women have been drugged by men at nightclubs and parties using needles to inject 'date-rape' drugs.

Police chiefs have also been tasked by the Commons Home Affairs Committee to urgently provide more information on their assessment of the scale of the problem after reports of incidents in several parts of the country, including Nottingham, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

Groups from more than 30 universities around the UK have joined an online campaign calling for the boycott of nightclubs, with campaigners seeking 'tangible' changes to make them safer, such as covers/stoppers for drinks, better training for staff and more rigorous searches of clubbers.

A petition launched last week to make it a legal requirement for nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry has already gained more than 130,000 signatures.

One 19-year-old student in Nottingham said she had blacked out going clubbing, before waking up to find a pin-prick hole in the back of her leg. Police are involved and have arrested a man on suspicion of administering a poison or noxious substance.

Another student in Nottingham, also 19, said how she woke up in hospital with a throbbing pain in her hand after going clubbing. She too believes she was targeted with a needle to the back of her hand.

There have also been as-of-yet unverified reports of incidents in Liverpool and at least two cities in Scotland, where they have been posted by a social media group - sparking a wave of panic on social media.

Police Scotland say it is investigating Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow and Aberdeen, though officers do not believe the reports to be linked. Merseyside Police say their investigation did not uncover 'any evidence of criminality'. 

And West Midlands Police last night said it had received one report where the circumstances 'appear to match the description of someone being spiked by injection'. However, the force says it is 'unclear exactly what has happened' and officers are continuing to investigate.

A Home Office source said: 'The individual case studies are awful but we don't know if there is more of it happening yet.' 

Drugs experts, meanwhile, have called for calm on as-of-yet unverified social media reports of injection spiking, saying the use of needles would be difficult for someone without medical training. They also say the kind of drugs needed for a quick and discreet injection are 'highly detectable' within a victim's system for several days - meaning police would be able to verify if the person had been spiked.

Other experts warned against conflating reports of injection spiking with a verified rise in drink spiking cases across the UK. 

It comes as women have say they are now taking measures to protect themselves amid reports of needle spiking in clubs.

Some women say they are now wearing denim jackets in nightclubs and bars because the material is 'harder to pierce' with a needle. Others are choosing to wear thick clothing in fear of being spiked. 

Zara Owen, 19, from Surrey, said she blacked out soon after arriving at a venue last Monday, telling BBC Breakfast: 'I know I didn't drink as much as I usually would on a night-out this night, and the fact that I don't remember anything is terrifying for me because this is something that is a very rare occasion to me.

'I've never suffered with memory loss and then the next morning ... I woke up with a really painful leg.

'I found a pin prick in my leg which was the epicentre of all pain. It made me unable to walk and I was limping around.

'As a young person who's at university, I'm hearing stories of people who have been to nightclubs and they have been injected. I have heard stories of someone having it through their hand or through their back, so this kind of gave me an idea this had happened to me.' 

Another 19-year-old, who is also studying in Nottingham, said she discovered she had likely been spiked via a needle to the back of her hand while out in a nightclub. 

Sarah Buckle told ITV she arrived at the nightclub around 11pm, but later had to be taken home by friends who though she had drunk too much.

She said: 'The taxi home I started being sick all over myself and my friends could sense something was wrong.'

Her friends called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital where she woke up the next day with no recollection of the night before. 

'My hand was throbbing really bad. I also knew I wasn't intoxicated on a stupid level or overly drunk, she sad.

'I knew I had clearly been spiked but it would have never occurred to me it was via injection if my hand wasn't throbbing. I thought how? I never take a drink away from the bar. 

'You think spiking is to do with your drink, you don't think something would go into your body.'

Nottinghamshire Police said it has seen a rising number of reports of spiking over recent months and has arrested a man as part of a wider operation.

Superintendent Kathryn Craner, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: 'Over the last few months we have seen an increase in reports where people believe that drugs may have been put in their drink ... But we've also received a small number of reports where people are telling us, as Zara has, that this has been associated with a pain or a mark on a part of their body, scratching sensation, and as though they have been physically spiked.'

The University of Nottingham said it was 'extremely concerned' by the reports and was working with police and venues to 'monitor, review and learn from incidents and experiences in the city centre'.

Police Scotland is also looking into similar reports. A spokesman said: 'Officers are carrying out inquiries and a small number of reports from the Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow areas are being investigated. These do not appear to be linked.'

Larissa Kennedy, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), said: 'It's absolutely disgusting that in the past few days a number of students have reported instances of women being spiked on nights out.'

Sarah Crew, temporary Chief Constable for Avon and Somerset Police who leads the National Police Chiefs' Council's (NPCC) work on rape and adult sexual offences, told the Commons Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday: 'In terms of the injection spiking, I only became aware of that this morning so I know about the reports ...

'I think it's a fair assumption there may be a sexual motive in those, but there isn't an indication.'

It is 'difficult to make an assessment on that particular trend at the moment, in terms of the more general drink spiking we do know that that's a problem,' she added.

Spiking drinks can lead to up to ten years in prison - or even higher if other offences like rape, robbery or another assault has taken place.

Journalist Lucy Ward last night shared a message from her daughter revealing the extent of spiking in UK clubs - along with the recent reports of spiking through injection.

Taking to Twitter, she said: 'The epidemic of drinks spiking targeting young women - students and not - in nightclubs has a horrific new variant: injecting women in the back or leg with the same drugs.

'Young women are going to clubs wearing denim jackets and other thick clothing to try to protect themselves from attackers armed with syringes and an apparent desire to harm young women purely for having fun and freedom.  

'I asked my daughter - first year at a UK university - if she had heard of it and she sent me this.'

As part of the Twitter thread, Ms Ward, a former Guardian journalist, goes on to share the message from her daughter, which details the scale of the problem.

In the message, her daughter reveals how she has knows at least 'half a dozen girls' who have been spiked and 'more who suspect having been'.

She says in the message: 'The injections thing is the most recent thing they are doing now and people are more scared than ever.

'But the scariest thing to me is how unsurprised we all are.  We go out in groups, we refuse drinks, we keep our phones on and in our hands.

'Girls are wearing denim jackets because the material is harder to pierce. We simply accept the latest horror and come up with new ways to protect ourselves, and of course remain weak and vulnerable anyway.'  

Ms Ward said students across the country were now holding boycotts of nightclubs in order to persuade nightclubs to take action to better protect women.

The boycotts are due to take place later this month in cities such as Southampton, Brighton, Bristol, Nottingham, Durham and Belfast.

Ms Ward added: 'I cannot describe the rage I feel at this (situation). These are simply random acts of extreme harm. 

'I don't blame universities - my daughter's has worked hard to help when students have sought help. But there is a culture here that we must acknowledge and address.' 

A Home Office source told Politico: 'This is absolutely awful. We have asked for an update from the police on this and would encourage anyone to report this behaviour to the police.' 

Meanwhile, the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), the trade body for UK nightclubs, has called for an urgent inquiry into the wide issue of spiking. 

Michael Kill, CEO of the group, urged the Home Office to look at Devon and Cornwall Police, who have recently launched a drink spiking testing pilot using on-site testing to allow people to get their drinks test.

He said: 'NTIA are very concerned to learn about the reported increase in the number of spiking incidents taking place across the country. 

'We support all those coming forward to speak about their experiences. It goes without saying that everyone should be able to enjoy a night out without fearing for their own safety, and we are saddened to hear that some don't feel this way.

'We have been encouraged to see the progressive approach taken by Devon and Cornwall Police through their drink spiking testing pilot. 

'The Home Office should launch a formal inquiry to examine the results of that pilot, and the lessons that can be applied to the industry and policing nationally.'

However experts have warned people not to panic, with one medical expert saying the likelihood that injection spiking is a widespread phenomena is 'deeply improbable'.

David Caldicott, an emergency medicine consultant and founder of drug testing project WEDINOS, told VICE News: 'The technical and medical knowledge required to perform this would make this deeply improbable. 

'It's really hard to stick a needle in someone without them noticing, especially if you have to keep the needle in there for long enough, maybe 20 seconds, to inject enough drugs to cause this.'

Meanwhile, Guy Jones, senior scientist at drugs charity the Loop, told VICE most 'date rape' drugs would need to be administered in large quantities with thick needles.