Presenter Kate McCann has spoken out about having her drink spiked by a “brazen” group of men who “didn’t care who saw” while on a night out with friends.

The 35-year-old political journalist and broadcaster tweeted about her experience, warning her followers that spiking was “scarily common”.

McCann wrote: “I had my drink spiked in a bar by a group of men so brazen they didn’t care who saw.

“A colleague spotted them, thought we’d be OK as I’d only had one sip but sadly it was enough. It was awful and I was lucky.

“Still don’t understand why they did it. It’s so scarily common.”

She went on to describe the powerful effects of being spiked.

“The one thing I would say about whether people get confused about just being too drunk is that being spiked feels nothing like being drunk – even really really drunk.

“It’s a totally different and really horrid feeling which you know isn’t just alcohol. Like being out of your body.”

In response to a comment on her post, she shared her confusion over why she was targeted, saying: “It’s such a strange thing, I still can’t work out what they had to gain?

“I was in a big group and there was no way to isolate me really – I don’t understand the point. Perhaps best not to think too hard about it maybe.”

When another Twitter user questioned whether spiking was very prevalent, or just much talked about, McCann replied: “Anecdote definitely doesn’t match data – I think that’s a very good argument for more work to be done to figure out exactly how widespread it is.

“When I mentioned it to friends a number had similar experiences or knew people who had, so I think it’s just not openly discussed.”

‘It does matter’

McCann also said she had “so many worrying responses to this tweet”, directing anyone who had been the victim of spiking to share their own experiences via an investigation into spiking carried out by The Times, adding: “It does matter”.

Her post prompted many Twitter users to share their own stories of being targeted while on a night out.

One wrote: “My husband had his spiked in his local pub. He had had a couple of drinks but when he seemed suddenly hammered and dropped two drinks on the trot (which he had never done in 20 years) his friends realised what had happened and got him home safe. Very lucky.”

McCann replied, saying: “That’s awful.”

Another wrote: “I took my staff out for drinks, we were aware of spiking and were drinking bottles of beer. I picked up one of the girls’ beers by mistake and lost 48 hours. Thankfully I lived close by and got home somehow. Dread to think what could have happened to one of the girls that night.”

McCann replied: “That’s so grim.”

Spiking is when someone puts drugs into another person’s drink or directly into their body without their knowledge or consent.

Victims of drink spiking are often targeted on a night out, at clubs, bars, parties, work events and festivals.

Tell-tale signs that your drink has been spiked can include loss of balance and co-ordination, confusion and hallucinations, inability to communicate and difficulty breathing.

‘Eleven percent of women have been spiked’

Last December, the government announced new steps it would be taking in a bid to crackdown on spiking, including more funding for drink spiking tests and mandatory training for door staff.

It also announced it would be amending an 1861 law, the Offences Against the Person Act – which relates to administering a poison with intent – to encompass spiking. It carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Spiking is currently covered by several different areas of legislation but there is no single dedicated offence under which to prosecute perpetrators.

It’s difficult to pin down exactly how common place the practice is, partly due to the small amount of spiking data available, and also due to the fact that not all victims will report an incident.

Police have only recently begun tracking spiking data, with the first report covering a period from 2022 to 2023 and recording 6,732 spiking incidents reported to the police.

Of those incidents, 4,643 were administered by drink, 957 by needle and the rest by unspecified means.

A nationally representative YouGov poll found 11% of women and 6% of men said they had been spiked.

Laura Farris, the Conservative MP for Newbury and under-secretary of state for victims and safeguarding, told The Sunday Times: “Spiking is now part of an MP’s weekly casework.

“People, mostly a parent of the victim, increasingly write to say this is an issue. It happens often.”