'I did not want to believe I had been spiked'

A primary school teacher who believes she was spiked while out with friends has launched a petition calling for CCTV to cover all areas of venues.

Mollie Penfold, from Crawley, West Sussex, was having afternoon drinks with friends at a bar in London on September 6 last year.

The 24-year-old said a man bumped into her on a narrow stairwell and within 15 minutes she fell ill, was vomiting and could not remember much afterwards.

Ms Penfold reported to police that she had been needle spiked. However, the case was dropped by the Metropolitan Police a month later partly due to CCTV not covering the stairwell.

The petition is calling for CCTV to cover all areas of venues. It needs 10,000 signatures for the government to respond and currently has nearly 900 signatures.

"I didn't want to believe it had happened to me," said Ms Penfold.

"I got a call saying there was no CCTV on that stairwell, I couldn't remember what he looked like so they closed my case.

"I was sitting at home and burst into tears and felt so angry [about] this decision from this man. I'm still suffering with the aftermath of it.

"I really wanted to do something positive and take back control of the situation."

Ms Penfold reported it to police on 7 September and said she went to the hospital that day, but they could not test her for anything as it had been "too long" since the incident.

The Met Police said there was no CCTV, no description of the suspect and no forensic evidence.

The force said early reporting of crimes was crucial to securing convictions, with some drugs leaving people's system within 12 hours.

Last year, Met Police had more than 2,700 reports of spiking, with 132 of those resulting in positive outcomes including charges.

The force said the majority of these reports were drink spiking and needle spiking was "less common".

Spiking ranges from putting alcohol into someone's drink without their consent, to injecting someone with prescription or illegal drugs. It also includes putting drugs into someone's food, drink or vape without their knowledge or permission.

Supt Daniel Thompson, the Met Police's lead officer for investigating rape and serious sexual offences, said: "There's a really short window of time [for getting forensic evidence], as little as 12 hours. If we take a urine sample from a victim of this crime, we might be able to detect the drug used.

"We completely understand why it might take victims a long time to come forward to police, it's one of those offences that the sooner we can intervene the more evidence we can get hold of."

Sussex Police had 301 reports of spiking in 2025.

The force said it had high visibility patrols from officers and safety marshals to help vulnerable people and worked with venues. The force said venues had increased searches at the door, extra training for staff, lids for cups, on-site medics and safe spaces for people in distress.

Kate Nicholls, chair of trade body UKHospitality, said: "The safety of customers is a top priority for hospitality, and venues continue to work tirelessly to prevent spiking, including providing education, training for staff to spot the signs and installing CCTV where appropriate.

"In some instances, CCTV is a legal condition for a venue as a licensing condition."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We're working with bars, pubs and venues to rollout specialist training for staff, supporting the police with piloting innovative tactics, and introduced a new criminal offence for spiking to help empower victims to report these crimes and bring more perpetrators to justice."

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