FOI 341/26 Spiking
Enquiry Reference: 341-26
I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Your request is below with our response.
1) Total cases
Please state the total number of offences that were reported to the police as alleged spiking (including needling) for the following calendar years – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.
[Note - by spiking we refer to administering a substance without consent as it has been commonly understood under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and as it will now be considered under the Crime and Policing Bill 2025.]
- Please provide the breakdown of the suspects and victims by gender
- Please provide the breakdown of victim ages according to these age groups: under 18, 18-24, 25-34, 35-50, over 50
- Please provide the breakdown of spiking method (ie. substance added to beverage, needle/injection, food spiking etc)
- Please provide the breakdown of the type of venue of the alleged drink spiking (ie. pub, bar, restaurant, private residence, university accommodation etc)
- Please provide the breakdown of the local authority where the incidents occurred
2) Outcome
For the following calendar years – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 – please provide this information:
- Total number of reported alleged drink spiking offences that were investigated by the police
- Total number of offences that were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service
- Total number of offences that were prosecuted
- Please provide the breakdown of the outcome of prosecuted cases
3) Most recent year
For the calendar year 2025, please provide this information:
- The average time between the alleged drink spiking incident and when the incident was reported to the police
- Please state the name of any institutions where there have been more than five reported alleged drink spiking offences, as well as the total number of alleged drink spiking offences at these venues.
- Please state the number of incidents of fraud reported where victims believe they were spiked beforehand
The following clarification
Q1 - Please can you clarify if you would like a count of 'administering' crimes only. The crime class's are below.
005/10 - Administering poison so as to endanger life
008/02 - Administering poison with intent to injure or annoy
088/05 - Administering a substance with intent
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
|
005/10 - Administering poison so as to endanger life |
3 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
|||
|
008/02 - Administering poison with intent to injure or annoy |
5 |
3 |
8 |
15 |
34 |
85 |
72 |
34 |
69 |
|
088/05 - Administering a substance with intent |
1 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
17 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
For the crimes in the above table, the victim gender and suspect genders are below. Some crimes do not have a suspect recorded or the gender was not recorded. There could be more than one suspect for each crime.
Victim Gender
|
Female |
254 |
|
Male |
116 |
|
Unknown |
3 |
|
(blank) |
3 |
Suspect Gender
|
Female |
35 |
|
Male |
146 |
|
Unknown |
1 |
Below is a breakdown of the recorded victims age at the time of the offence. Data quality and no DOB recorded will show as other or No DoB.
|
005/10 - Administering poison so as to endanger life |
13 |
|
Under 18 |
2 |
|
18 - 24 |
1 |
|
25 - 34 |
5 |
|
35 - 50 |
4 |
|
Other |
1 |
|
008/02 - Administering poison with intent to injure or annoy |
325 |
|
Under 18 |
42 |
|
18 - 24 |
109 |
|
25 - 34 |
70 |
|
35 - 50 |
63 |
|
No DoB |
1 |
|
Other |
2 |
|
Over 50 |
38 |
|
088/05 - Administering a substance with intent |
38 |
|
Under 18 |
2 |
|
18 - 24 |
14 |
|
25 - 34 |
12 |
|
35 - 50 |
6 |
|
Over 50 |
4 |
Please note the method is not often known or recorded but the analyst searched in the MO comments for 'drink', 'food' and 'needle'. Where those words were found it is recorded in the table. If not it states 'none'.
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
|
005/10 - Administering poison so as to endanger life |
3 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
|||
|
Drink |
1 |
1 |
|||||||
|
Unknown |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
008/02 - Administering poison with intent to injure or annoy |
5 |
3 |
8 |
15 |
34 |
85 |
72 |
34 |
69 |
|
Drink |
1 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
16 |
45 |
31 |
9 |
34 |
|
Food |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||||||
|
Needle |
3 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
||||
|
Unknown |
4 |
2 |
3 |
11 |
14 |
36 |
36 |
23 |
30 |
|
088/05 - Administering a substance with intent |
1 |
1 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
17 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
|
Drink |
2 |
1 |
10 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
|||
|
Needle |
1 |
||||||||
|
Unknown |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
The below table contains the results from the MO location description of the crimes requested but this is not consistently recorded.
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
|
Commercial; Warehouse; |
1 |
||||||||
|
Dwelling |
5 |
2 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
19 |
16 |
11 |
20 |
|
Education |
3 |
1 |
|||||||
|
Education; School; Yard |
1 |
||||||||
|
Financial; Automatic Cash Machine; |
1 |
||||||||
|
Hospitality / Bar |
4 |
||||||||
|
Hospitality / Club |
6 |
23 |
18 |
3 |
9 |
||||
|
Hospitality: Club licenced; Other |
1 |
||||||||
|
Hotel/Motel |
1 |
1 |
|||||||
|
Hospitality / Public House |
5 |
1 |
11 |
34 |
23 |
9 |
21 |
||
|
Hospitality; Public house; Detached; |
1 |
||||||||
|
Hospitality; Public house; Garden |
1 |
||||||||
|
Leisure; Leisure/swimming centre; Doorstep |
1 |
||||||||
|
Medical; Hospital; |
1 |
2 |
|||||||
|
Medical; Hospital; Detached; |
1 |
||||||||
|
Public building; Other (public building); |
1 |
||||||||
|
Public place; Street; |
1 |
1 |
1 |
||||||
|
Public / Open place |
6 |
6 |
3 |
9 |
|||||
|
(blank) |
1 |
5 |
9 |
8 |
20 |
9 |
7 |
12 |
The below is the LPA of the occurrence address. Other is recorded if the LPA was not given or was out of Force area.
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
|
Hartlepool |
2 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
19 |
17 |
5 |
11 |
|
Middlesbrough |
1 |
5 |
7 |
17 |
46 |
32 |
15 |
26 |
|
|
Redcar and Cleveland |
1 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
14 |
12 |
4 |
8 |
|
Stockton |
3 |
5 |
3 |
9 |
25 |
17 |
11 |
29 |
|
|
Other |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
Having made enquiries within the Force above is all the information we hold. Please note that all statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Decision Maker