A man has been jailed for trying to give someone Viagra and sleeping pills so he could sexually assault him.
Eamon Kelly, 58, dropped drug cocktails in his victim’s drink while the two 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 did not know Kelly and that he had ‘smiling awkwardly’ at him during the visit.
At some point, Kelly put two pills in the man’s drink with the intention of assaulting him afterward.
Fortunately, the pills did not dissolve and the victim was discovered in time. Even after the man confronted Kelly, he continued ‘smiling awkwardly’.
When the man challenged him a second time, officers, unaware of what had happened, tried to kick the victim out.
But after the man explained the situation, the pub reviewed their CCTV, which showed Kelly taking something from his left jacket pocket.
Staff called the police, they found a small vial of crushed tablets in the same location. Kelly told officers he 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 rediscovering the jar the day before the crime.
Kelly, from Ealing, later pleaded guilty to using drugs with the intent to stun to permit sexual arousal.
He was held for two years and four months at Harrow Crown Court, and will be on the Sex Offender register for 10 years.
Detective Superintendent Benazir Bhati said: ‘Thankfully the victim was alert and noticed the tablets and alerted staff, which meant officers were able to quickly reach the location to arrest the suspect. committing and performing time-critical investigations.
‘We take the spike allegations extremely seriously and we will strongly target the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.’
It comes with police and hotel locations coming under renewed pressure to crack down on the spike.
Reports of a spike have been in the air since the country reopened after being shut down, with some women claim they were stung with an injection.
Stories that evoked Students boycott nightclubs to protest what many see as a lack of action against the issue.
Experts have warned that although certain drugs can be used to spike a person’s drink – The most commonly used substance is actually alcohol.
Police forces have been trying to come up with new ways to tackle theft – including deploying plainclothes officers to nightclubs.
But the plan was considered a ‘PR stunt’ by activists who said that people, especially women, could not trust the police after the kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.
Reclaim the Streets says: ‘How can we trust Met police officers to spot predators in bars and clubs if they can’t seem to spot and root them out bait in his ranks?’
But the Met believes its plan will help ‘identify and prevent predatory behavior around busy locations at night’.
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https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/03/west-london-spiker-put-viagra-and-sleeping-tablet-in-mans-drink-15712741/ West London: Spiker puts Viagra and sleeping pills in men's drinks
