'Terrified' women describe blackouts and sickness after suspected spiked needle attacks

More than 20 young women have told Sky News about their experiences of being "spiked by injection" on a night out.

Students from cities such as Nottingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle believe they were targeted while out clubbing and have described blackouts and memory loss.

A number of police forces are investigating multiple reports of this new way of drugging women and say "it's distinctly different to anything they've seen before".

Second-year Nottingham student Sarah Buckle told Sky News she feared she "could have been raped, or even died" one night.

"I just felt assaulted, you go out to have a good time, it was my first night back at university and I was thinking it would be so much fun with all my friends and it just went so horribly wrong," she said.

"I had no memory of what went on that night, my friends who were with me have pieced it all together.

"Apparently I couldn't get my words out, I collapsed, I started throwing up in the taxi on the way home. They could tell something's really wrong here because I was falling in and out of consciousness."

Sarah said she spent more than 10 hours at hospital and couldn't remember what happened there until she woke at 9am.

"I woke up and realised my hand was developing a bruise and it had a mark in it," she said.

"The bruise was getting darker over time and my hand was hurting more and more.

"The nurses told me 'it seems as if you've been spiked possibly by a needle'. I immediately just thought about HIV, hepatitis, that's gone straight into my body.

"I just felt physically sick that it was in my system."

Sarah said she and her friends are now "terrified" about going out: "It just makes me feel really really sick and really angry as well.

"I don't know what part of someone being in such a vulnerable state that people look at and think it's funny, or attractive or they get any sort of sexual gratification from.

"It's just scarring and you just feel like you can't trust anybody. Everyone I've spoken to now is just terrified."

Zara Owen, 19, also believes she was spiked - by an injection in her thigh.

She told Sky News: "I've got no memory, it's a complete blackout.

"This has never happened to me before and it's terrifying to think what actually happened to me during those hours that I've missed.

"I was fortunate enough to have my friends there to take me home, but in the morning when I woke up I had a really sharp pain in my leg and it just felt really weird.

"I found a pinprick in my lap where the pain was and it was then I thought it's kind of official, I'd been spiked by an injection."

Zara said she is "terrified and scared" to think about what could have happened that night if she wasn't with friends.

"The fact that I was in jeans, baggy jeans and my leg wasn't exposed, it scares me more," she said.

"The fact they had to go through thick denim means it wasn't easy to do it. It must have been some brute force to do it.

"I don't think I've managed to get my head around it at all.

"I'm just in shock, I've heard about drinks being spiked but not this, it's sickening. If it's happened to me, it can easily happen to anyone else."

Following a surge in reported cases of injection spiking, a petition was set up by former Glasgow student Hannah Thomson to improve security at nightclubs.

It will now be considered by parliament after it passed 100,000 signatures in under six days.

She told Sky News: "Since I was old enough to go to nightclubs, I was told by parents: cover your drinks, don't leave a drink unattended, don't take drinks off strangers.

"But we don't get taught to watch out for a harmful weapon when we enter a club.

"We're there to have a good time, we're not there to be constantly looking over our shoulder. This is a new way of spiking people, it's just terrifying.

"I just want to see change, safety for young women and everyone entering nightclubs.

"I just want to be able to go out and feel safe. What I'd say to nightclubs is yes, these tougher measures may require a bit of money, they may require more staffing, but they will make us feel much safer and more comfortable to come to nightclubs."

Hannah added: "With the case of the MP who was stabbed recently, they're talking about tougher restrictions taking place at surgeries... checking people as they come in.

"If you're thinking of doing that for quite a safe environment when it's during the day and it's very controlled, why would you not want to do the same in a nightclub?"