More than 50 suspected spiking attacks have now been recorded in Norwich in less than two months - 40pc of them thought to be spiking with needles.

Norfolk Police has revealed that 51 spineless offences have reportedly taken place in the city since the start of October - with a further 10 recorded elsewhere in the county.

Of those attacks 60pc were drink spiking - 40pc by injection.

Four were reported at the University of East Anglia campus.

And chief inspector Ed Brown of the Norfolk Police said the force is taking every report of spiking seriously.

Chief insp. Brown outlined the action being taken to support people heading out into the city: “The first thing is to put a good response plan in place.

“That response plan was designed during October, to make sure we’ve got a consistent investigative and forensic strategy in place to maximise evidential opportunities.

“At the moment we don’t have any forensics to say that people have had drug toxins introduced into their system."

The police boss added: “We want the public to be reassured that when they report these matters to us, we’ll take it seriously.”

He stressed that the "last thing" Norfolk Police want is for someone to report a spiking incident and be told that they “just drank too much”.

In addition to this, Norfolk Police have been working with the pubs, clubs and bars to raise their awareness of what to do in an instance of suspected spiking.

Chief insp. Brown said that victims should seek medical attention as soon as they suspect they may have been spiked, adding: “especially if the conditions are worsening”.

Norfolk Police are also encouraging people to report incidents to police so as to “maximise investigative opportunities”.


The community officer also advises people to "think from an investigative point of view" and try to gather as much evidence as possible to assist police.

He outlined that this could entail considering whether there are any suspects or if anyone had been behaving strangely around the time of the incident.