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Spiking
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request ref: 01/FIN/26/004855/R
Version Date: 30/07/2026
The Performance Analysis Department has provided the following information:
The data provided below is of crimes recorded under HO Code 008/02 – Cause administer poison / noxious thing with intent to injure / aggrieve / annoy.
Clarification:
I am asking for specific data that you may hold in relation to Section 24 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Specifically, any recorded data on the updated offence of administering a harmful substance (including spiking) which was brought in this year, through the Crime and Policing Act 2026.
It's my understanding this falls under the former offence code 008/02.
For simplicity, here I attach a refined version of my FOI.
Dear Freedom of Information Team,
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 about the use of the updated offence of administering a harmful substance (including spiking) which was brought in this year through the Crime and Policing Act 2026, which updates Section 24 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
Please provide any data you have that relates to the new offence, which falls under the former offence code 008/02, for the period of April 29th 2026 to present.
Please provide:
1. The number of offences recorded by your force under this new spiking offence.
2. Any recorded outcomes to the crimes in question 1 that are held on your system, with any detail on police action if available. E.g. status of the crime.
|
Outcome |
Count |
|
14: Victim declines/unable to support action to identify offender |
3 |
|
15: Police - named suspect, victim supports but evidential difficulties |
1 |
|
16: Victim declines/withdraws support - named suspect identified |
2 |
|
18: Investigation complete no suspect identified |
6 |
|
New |
9 |
|
Grand Total |
21 |
- The gender and age of the victims, if available.
|
Victim Age |
Female |
Male |
(blank) |
Grand Total |
|
19 |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
|
20 |
|
3 |
|
3 |
|
21 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
22 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
24 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
26 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
27 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
32 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
37 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
43 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
49 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
50 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
55 |
1 |
2 |
|
3 |
|
58 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
78 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
(blank) |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
Grand Total |
11 |
9 |
1 |
21 |
- The gender and age of the suspects, if available.
|
Suspect Age |
Female |
Male |
Grand Total |
|
19 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
31 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
38 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
56 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
Grand Total |
2 |
2 |
4 |
- The date on which the data was extracted.
This query has the time frame of 29/04/2026 00:00:00 – 01/07/2026 23:59:59, and was run on 03/07/2026 10:00:36.
If your force cannot identify this new offence, please explain how officers record this crime now the changes are in place, so I can evaluate what specific category/crime code I am enquiring about.
We are unable to identify a “new” spiking offence. The above information relates to the amendments made to a preexisting offence, item 24 in the Offences against the Person Act 1861: Offences against the Person Act 1861