A woman fears she was spiked while visiting a Christmas market in Manchester after she discovered what appeared to be a ‘pin prick’ on her leg.
Anya Whitaker-Keating, 19, believes she was spiked while visiting Manchester from her home in Leeds with her friend on November 20.
Speaking about her experience, Anya said she had been enjoying some drinks at the market before blacking out and waking up the next morning in her hotel room.
She said she had only had two glasses of wine and some beer before blacking out.
Anya Whitaker-Keating, 19, (pictured) believes she was spiked while visiting Manchester from her home in Leeds with her friend on November 20
Upon waking up, she said she felt ‘really drowsy’ and her friend told her she had been acting as if she had been extremely drunk.
Anya, who works in sales, said: ‘It got to about 4 or 5 o’clock and I started to feel a bit drowsy and that’s the last thing that I can remember.
‘We booked a hotel, but I don’t remember going to it, I just remember waking up in the morning and I was sweating and did not know what happened.’
A day later, at the start of the new week, Anya said she noticed a small mark at the top of her leg, and after calling the doctors, was advised to go to A&E where she was given a Hepatitis B jab.
Blood samples were also taken away to be analysed, but the results have not yet come back and doctors were unable to confirm at the time whether or not she had in fact been spiked.
Speaking about her experience, Anya said she had been enjoying some drinks at the market before blacking out and waking up the next morning in her hotel room – later discovering a small mark at the top of her leg (pictured)
Looking back on the experience, Anya said: ‘It’s horrendous. I was really shocked as I’ve seen this happening to other people and I was just shocked that it happened.’
She added that the incident has made her more cautious now and that she does not feel like going out again for some time.
Greater Manchester Police have since confirmed that the have been made aware of the incident and that enquiries are now underway.
Councillor Pat Karney, the town hall’s city centre spokesman, said: ‘We are, of course, horrified to hear of this report. No one enjoying themselves at the Christmas Markets – or any venue in the city centre for that matter – should have their safety put at risk.
‘We want our Christmas Markets to be a safe place and security are posted across each of the event spaces and are very visible.
‘If you see anyone acting suspiciously or you are worried that you may have been spiked, please speak to a security guard and you will receive help.’
It comes after earlier this week when Conservative minister Mims Davies, 46, called on Priti Patel to enforce tougher measures to protect women from a national ‘spiking epidemic’ after revealing she found evidence someone had tampered with her drink during a night out.
She explained that she ‘had to be carried home’ after finding an unidentifiable black substance in her glass while out drinking with friends in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, two years ago.
Mrs Davies, MP for Mid Sussex, ‘blacked out’ after the event and admitted she still doesn’t know anything about the dark substance she discarded on the floor that night.
Mims Davies, 46, explained she ‘had to be carried home’ after finding an unidentifiable black substance in her glass while out drinking with friends in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, two years ago
The Tory MP says she has written directly to Home Secretary Priti Patel in a bid to see tougher action taken on the ‘spiking epidemic’.
The latest incident comes as police investigate the scale of the UK’s so-called ‘spiking epidemic’ amid a rise in claims that women have been drugged at nightclubs, bars and late-night venues using needles to inject ‘date-rape’ drugs.
The employment minister told the BBC she thought little of the fact she had pulled ‘something black’ from her drink and threw it on the floor.
‘It was only later on I thought: ‘Blimey, what was that?’, she explained.
Mrs Davies wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured) and said further restrictions should be put in place to prevent would-be spikers from being able to easily access drink-tampering products online
Mrs Davies said further restrictions should be put in place to prevent would-be spikers from being able to easily access drink-tampering products online.
‘What on earth is in those products? Who’s buying them and who’s sourcing them?,’ she asked.
‘There’s more to this than meets the eye.’
Those found guilty of drink spiking offences in England and Wales face the prospect of up to 10 years behind bars.
This year, Britain’s nightlife venues were rocked by an avalanche of accusations that young people, particularly women, were being spiked by injection and having their drinks tampered with.
This year, Britain’s nightlife venues were rocked by an avalanche of accusations that young people, particularly women, were being spiked by injection and having their drinks tampered with. Pictured: A bar in Manchester on October 23, 2021, is seen empty as people staged protests
Hundreds of clubbers came forward to share their experiences of having drinks tampered with and even being injected with unknown substances while partying with friends.
Those horrifying claims led to new measures being put in place at nightclubs, bars and pubs across the country, including cup covers, more thorough searches by security and drinks-testing equipment being used in a pilot.
Students ditched their favourite venues in protest during a nationwide movement known as Girls Night In which saw thousands boycott bars and clubs across England.
It comes as nearly 300 spiked by injection reports have been recorded across the UK in the last two months alone, new figures have revealed.
The statistics from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) confirm fears that the new form of assault is sweeping the country, after 274 reports were lodged with local police forces between September and November 8.