A man has been jailed for trying to spike someone with Viagra and sleeping pills so he could sexually assault him.
Eamon Kelly, 58, put the drug cocktail in his victim’s drink while the two of them shared a table at The Broadway pub in Ealing, west London, on August 29.
The victim, a man in his 30s who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he didn’t know Kelly, and that he had been ‘awkwardly smiling’ at him during his visit.
At some point, Kelly put two pills into the man’s drink with the intention to assault him later.
Luckily, the tablets did not dissolve and the victim spotted them in time. Even after the man confronted Kelly, he continued to ‘awkwardly smile’.
When the man challenged him a second time, staff members who did not know what happened tried to kick the victim out.
But once the man explained the situation, the pub reviewed their CCTV which showed Kelly removing something from his left-hand jacket pocket.
Staff called police, who found a small vial of crushed tablets in the same place. Kelly told the officers he had crushed the pills years ago and put them away.
He said he ‘wanted to see what would happen’ if he put them in someone’s drink after re-discovering the vial the day before the crime.
Kelly, from Ealing, later pleaded guilty to administering a substance with the intent to stupefy to allow sexual gain.
He was put behind bars for two years and four months at Harrow Crown Court, and will be on the Sex Offenders register for 10 years.
Detective constable Benazir Bhati said: ‘Thankfully the victim was vigilant and noticed the tablets and alerted staff, which meant officers were quickly able to get to the venue to arrest the suspect and carry out time-crucial enquiries.
‘We take allegations of spiking extremely seriously and we will robustly target those who commit this heinous crime.’
It comes with police and hospitality venues being put been under fresh pressure to crack down on spiking.
Reports of spiking have been rolling in since the country reopened from lockdown, with some women claiming they were spiked with an injection.
The stories have prompted students to boycott nightclubs in protest of what many believe is a lack of action against the issue.
Experts have warned that while a number of drugs can be used to spike someone’s drink – the most commonly used substance is actually alcohol.
Police forces have tried to come up with new ways to tackle spikers – including deploying plain-clothed police officers to nightclubs.
But the scheme was branded as a ‘PR stunt’ by activists who said it was impossible for people, particularly women, to trust police in the wake of Sarah Everard’s kidnap, rape and murder.
Reclaim the Streets said: ‘How can we trust Met police officers to spot predators in bars and clubs if they can’t seem to spot and root out predators in their own ranks?’
But the Met believe their plan will help to ‘identify and prevent predatory offending around busy night-time spots’.
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