Man ‘spiked by a needle’ on night out as ‘body shut down altogether’
A man fears he was jabbed by a needle after it was confirmed he was spiked while on a night out in Lincoln.
Factory worker Adam Dennis was on a night out to celebrate a friend’s birthday at Bierkeller in the city on Saturday.
While enjoying himself with 10 others, the 25-year-old began to feel unwell and described it as his "body shutting down altogether". His friends were asking how he was but the effects stopped him from even being able to communicate.
About the story
Lincoln went through a period of time post-covid where spiking in nightclubs was on the rise and I wrote a series of pieces looking at this issue from several different voices. I felt it was important to include several different voices on this topic including a first hand account which was from a human interest perspective and was also published in a national, Daily Star. I also gathered perspectives from what Lincolnshire Police were saying as an authoritative body, a protest in response to the spiking and how nightclubs were dealing with the situation.
As a journalist it is important to include several voices and perspectives on issues happening in society so I looked at this integral issue and went to all different voices I could think of which resulted in four different pieces for our site. I believe this is one of the best examples of my work where I was thorough in writing about the topic and reaching out to several people.
The scale of the drink-spiking issue in Lincolnshire may not be fully known, with police claiming incidents are going unreported. Police said it had received four reports of drink-spiking incidents in Lincoln over the last month, but Chief Inspector Phil Baker urged people to contact police.
It comes after Adam Dennis claimed his body "shut down altogether" after being spiked by a needle in Lincoln - an incident not reported to the police.
A boycott of Lincoln nightclubs will take place next week in response to the recent increase of drink-spiking cases in the city. Girls Night In, an anti-spiking campaign, will take place in cities across the country on Wednesday, October 27.
Campaigners have called for regular training for all bar and club staff, a welfare officer, anti-spiking devices, and a zero-tolerance policy on spiking.
Nightclubs in Lincoln have stepped up their safety measures in order to ensure their venues are as safe as possible following recent spiking incidents. There have been reports of an increase of spiking on nights out across the country including some people claiming they have been injected.
Several Lincoln nightclubs offer safety measures such as drug testing kits and operating the 'Ask for Angela' scheme.