Young entrepreneurs are lobbying the Government on how to tackle spiking incidents.
University of Leeds graduates Elysia O’Neill and Della Claydon set up The Safe Place Project after experiencing incidents in bars themselves and are campaigning for spiking to be made a standalone criminal offence.
Elysia and Della felt compelled to help others who had gone through the same trauma by providing information, collecting data and delivering training.
Spiking is when someone puts alcohol or drugs into another person’s drink, vape, cigarette, food or directly into their body through a needle without that person’s knowledge or consent.
The Crime and Policing Bill, expected to come into force in November, creates a new ‘adminstering a harmful substance’ offence that covers spiking as well as non-spiking incidents such as spraying a person with pepper spray.
We are not alone in shouting for a standalone offence for spiking to be created, but we are one of the leading ones to be consulted by the Home Office.
The campaigners have spoken to the Home Office, the Home Affairs Committee, many combined authorities and Police and Crime Commissioners and have other meetings planned with the Government to continue to influence their thinking. Their most notable supporter within Government is MP and Deputy Speaker Judith Cummins.
“We are not alone in shouting for a standalone offence for spiking to be created, but we are one of the leading ones to be consulted by the Home Office,” said Della.
Certification scheme
The Safe Place Project is a training and certification scheme that provides engaging workshops to clients from the night-time economy, police organisations and students.
Elysia and Della, alongside their Directors Brogan Ramsden and Elizabeth Pickering, run a volunteer team of 13 members to assist with the project’s national and international expansion plans.
Della said: “Our training includes teaching bar staff and others in hospitality to be alert and look for the signs of perpetrators, and also how to respond to a victim disclosing an incident of spiking, sexual violence, hate crime or domestic abuse.”
She explained that workshops with students and student union staff focus on how incidents of harm take form in the student community. The Safe Place Project also covers preventing harm in the workplace.
“We create models about how staff and members of the public can intervene and empower those affected by all harms.
“The training is based on real life experiences and we have consent from the victims in our community to use their stories,” she said.
“We create models about how staff and members of the public can intervene and empower those affected by all harms, particularly those perpetrated against marginalised groups.
Recognition for entrepreneurs
The duo were awarded a Spark Special Recognition Prize in 2022 for co-founding the social enterprise The Egalitarian, a social media platform that offers a voice to victims of spiking and sexual violence and other types of assault such as hate crimes and domestic abuse.
Spark is the University’s business advice and mentoring service. Elysia and Della had initially set up a Spike Report in 2021, allowing survivors to report their spiking incidents along with the responses they had experienced from the police and the venues.
The launch of the UK’s first publicly viewable spiking incident database was followed up by a series of night-time economy surveys and social media polls to which they received more than 1,000 responses.
They launched an anti-spiking campaign in March 2024 called ‘Spiking Out Justice In’ with the aim of gaining support and collecting data to lobby the Government.
Elysia said: “It is a frightening and horrifying experience and unfortunately the evidential burden is on the victim to prove they were spiked. But at the time you don’t necessarily register what is happening because of the effects of the drugs.
“Spiking drugs can leave your system in 12 hours. You have to go to a police station to get a test. We would like to see NHS people trained to do tests that are admissible in criminal proceedings.”
Our community has disclosed many experiences of their spiking perpetrator loitering or committing harassment prior to spiking them.
They have undertaken research that identifies perpetrators, particularly focussing on behaviour patterns.
Elysia said: “We have discovered from talking to victims that perpetrators come from all different social groups and backgrounds. Our community has disclosed many experiences of their spiking perpetrator loitering or committing harassment prior to spiking them.”
They believe that the barriers victims face means that 97% of spiking incidents do not get reported, and that is why collating data was so important to reveal the true scale of the problem.
Elysia said they have received around 550 reports of spiking – not just from the UK, but also in the US and Europe.
Help from the University of Leeds
The duo are based at Nexus, the hub for innovators and entrepreneurs on the University of Leeds campus,
They have received Spark funding to set up a website, market themselves, launch surveys, and travel around the country to spread their message.
The website has so far had 3,200 visits with over 10,000 click throughs. Their Spike Report has had 3,500 views and 11,000 click throughs.
“The business advice through the Spark scheme has been incredible,” said Elysia. “We have had 1:1 meetings with business advisers and networking with experts from leading industries has been invaluable.”
Elysia and Della have run The Egalitarian as a social enterprise, with the emphasis on making societal improvements rather than making money.
And the two have praised their employer, global law firm Eversheds Sutherland, for allowing them the flexibility to run training sessions and develop their social enterprise.
Further information
For venues, student unions, workplaces or government organisations that want to be part of the Safe Place Project, please email contact@theegalitarian.co.uk or enquire at https://www.theegalitarian.co.uk/contact
Please click here for more information about The Egalitarian.
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For more information contact Jane Lewis by emailing either j.lewis3@leeds.ac.uk or the pressoffice@leeds.ac.uk