Restaurateur 'spiked woman's drink to relax her'

A top restaurateur was caught red-handed spiking a woman's drink with a date-rape drug at private members' club Annabel's, a court has heard.

Staff at Annabel's in Mayfair, central London, saw Vikas Nath using a straw to transfer a liquid from a vanilla extract bottle into the woman's margarita on 15 January 2024, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Staff replaced the drink before the woman consumed it and then called the police, the jury was told.

Nath, 63, is accused of trying to administer a substance with intent and possession of a Class B drug. He denies the charges but admits spiking the drink, claiming he did it to "relax" the woman rather than as part of a plan to have sex with her.

Nath had a motion-activated camera in a bedroom at his Knightsbridge home, which automatically recorded and stored footage, the jury was also told.

He admits using it in the past to "covertly" record sexual activity.

Nath, who has a portfolio of restaurants in the UK and Spain, including two with Michelin stars, hid the vanilla extract bottle in a toilet cistern while police were on their way, the court heard.

When officers arrived at the central London venue, they recovered the bottle, which was found to contain traces of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL).

Two bottles of the drug were later found under his sink at home, the jury heard.

Tim Clark KC, prosecuting, said Nath had exchanged texts with a friend before the spiking incident, showing he wanted to have sex with the woman and was "frustrated" it had not yet happened.

"His acceptance is not surprising; he had little choice because the spiking was captured on CCTV at Annabel's," Clark said.

The court heard the woman had invited Nath to Annabel's, where she was a member, and they went to the rooftop bar where she ordered the cocktail.

The woman left the table to show two friends around the club, and Clark said two members of staff then saw "rather strange actions" by Nath, who had been left alone with the group's drinks.

Staff watched as Nath used a straw to take liquid from a bottle he was trying to hide, and then dripped it into the woman's drink.

"Prior to the police arriving, Mr Nath clearly worked out that he had been rumbled," Clark said.

"He tried to hide the evidence of what he had done, going to the lavatory and throwing that little bottle into the cistern, and it was floating about when police recovered it."

In a police interview, Nath said he had got the GBL as a cleaning fluid for a high-performance car, and had been told by a friend that it could also be drunk with alcohol as a "relaxant".

He told police he had not realised it was illegal for him to be in possession of GBL.

The trial continues.

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