FOI 458868

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 458868

 

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 11^th February 2026. Please find below the response to your request:

 

Please could you provide the relevant information for the period between 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2021.

For each report concerning drink spiking, please could you provide the following:

 

1. A monthly breakdown of the numbers of drink spiking

reports filed.

 

 

1. The age group of the person who filed the drink

spiking report, categorised as follows: 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61+.

 

 

1. The gender of the victim.

 

 

 

 

Reply

 

West Mercia Police have conducted searches in relation to your request, and I can confirm that we do hold information.

 

Caveat: There is no specific offence of ‘drink spiking’. As such, searches have been conducted for potentially relevant Home Office classifications and incident summary field keywords with a manual review of the incident summary fields to eliminate false positives such as spiking by needle, vapes/cigarettes and food. There are a number of offences where the method of spiking is not detailed in the incident summaries. Therefore, the results have been presented in separate issue tables, detailing the number of drink spiking offences and those where the method of spiking was not specified.

 

Also, the number of victims does not match the total number of offences. This discrepancy can arise where the victims have wanted to remain anonymous and refused to provide personal details on reporting the incidents.

 

 

1. A monthly breakdown of the numbers of drink spiking

reports filed.

 

Year and Month	Method of Spiking		Grand Total
	Drinking	Method not specified
2019	30	3	33
January	3		3
February	1		1
March	2		2
April	4		4
May	1		1
June	1		1
July	5	2	7
August	3		3
September	1		1
October	4	1	5
November	1		1
December	4		4
2020	25	7	32
January	3	2	5
February	3	3	6
March	4		4
April	1		1
May	3		3
June	3		3
July	2		2
August	1	1	2
September	2		2
November		1	1
December	3		3
2021	88	35	123
January	1		1
February	1		1
March	1	1	2
April	2		2
May	4	1	5
June	2	2	4
July	3		3
August	7		7
September	5	3	8
October	9	2	11
November	36	14	50
December	17	12	29
Grand Total	143	45	188

 

 

1. The age group of the person who filed the drink

spiking report, categorised as follows: 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61+.

 

 

Age of victims (where method of spiking was identified as drink spiking):

Year and Month	Age Group							Grand Total
	Under 10 years	11-20 years	21-30 years	31-40 years	41-50 years	51-60 years	Over 60 years
2019	1	8	12	2	4	3		30
January		1	1			1		3
February			1					1
March		1	1					2
April		1	2	1				4
May			1					1
June	1							1
July		2	1		1	1		5
August		2				1		3
September			1					1
October			1		3			4
November			1					1
December		1	2	1				4
2020		5	6	7	4	1		23
January		1		2				3
February		1	2					3
March			1	1				2
April			1					1
May			1	2				3
June		1		1		1		3
July					2			2
August		1						1
September					2			2
December		1	1	1				3
2021		32	25	15	10	3	1	86
January					1			1
February		1						1
March				1				1
April					2			2
May		2	1	1				4
June			1					1
July			2		1			3
August		2	3	2				7
September		2		1		1		4
October		7	1	1				9
November		12	11	7	4	1	1	36
December		6	6	2	2	1		17
Grand Total	1	45	43	24	18	7	1	139

 

Age of victims (where method of spiking was identified not specified):

Year and Month	Victim Age Group						Grand Total
	Under 10 years	11-20 years	21-30 years	31-40 years	41-50 years	51-60 years
2019			1		2		3
July			1		1		2
October					1		1
2020	1	2	4				7
January			2				2
February		2	1				3
August			1				1
November	1						1
2021		15	11	7	1	1	35
March		1					1
May		1					1
June		1		1			2
September		1	1	1			3
October			2				2
November		7	4	2		1	14
December		4	4	3	1		12
Grand Total	1	17	16	7	3	1	45

 

 

1. The gender of the victim.

 

Gender of victims (where method of spiking was identified as drink spiking):

Year and Month	Victim Gender		Grand Total
	Female	Male
2019	26	4	30
January	2	1	3
February	1		1
March	2		2
April	3	1	4
May	1		1
June	1		1
July	5		5
August	3		3
September	1		1
October	3	1	4
November	1		1
December	3	1	4
2020	19	4	23
January	2	1	3
February	2	1	3
March	2		2
April	1		1
May	2	1	3
June	3		3
July	1	1	2
August	1		1
September	2		2
December	3		3
2021	67	19	86
January	1		1
February	1		1
March	1		1
April	2		2
May	3	1	4
June	1		1
July	2	1	3
August	6	1	7
September	3	1	4
October	7	2	9
November	29	7	36
December	11	6	17
Grand Total	112	27	139

 

 

 

Gender of victims (where method of spiking was identified not specified):

Year and Month	Victim Gender			Grand Total
	Female	Male	Not recorded
2019	3			3
July	2			2
October	1			1
2020	3	4		7
January		2		2
February	2	1		3
August	1			1
November		1		1
2021	29	5	1	35
March	1			1
May	1			1
June	2			2
September	3			3
October	2			2
November	13	1		14
December	7	4	1	12
Grand Total	35	9	1	45