Police issue fresh warning for Northampton club-goers to stay safe this weekend

Police have issued fresh warnings to club-goers to stay safe this weekend after reports of at least six people having drinks 'spiked' on nights out in Northampton.

Detectives are linking all the incidents at a number of venues in the town centre and investigations are ongoing into how the victims came by the affected drinks as well as the substance or substances involved and who may have administered them.

One club, NB's in Bridge Street, announced via social media it plans to have drug sniffer dogs on duty and will offer lids for drinks. NB's owner Marc Sawer has not responded to this newspaper's repeated attempts to contact him for comment this week.

But Detective Superintendent Emma James, Northamptonshire Police director of intelligence, offered her thanks for the co-operation and proactive attitude of both venues involved.

She added: “Any reports of this nature are taken very seriously as drink spiking can lead to serious harm

“Drink spiking is illegal and the penalties are serious. Anyone caught doing this, either to friends as a supposed prank, or to strangers, can expect to be robustly dealt with.

■ Visit Drink Aware or the Northamptonshire Police website HERE for more information about spiked drinks.

“I’d also like to remind people to stick with friends and always look after their drinks while they are out. Don’t leave drinks unattended, don’t take them from strangers or pick up drinks at random because you have no way of knowing what’s in them.

“If you think you may have had a drink spiked, please always seek medical help and report it to the police as soon as possible.

"If you have concerns on a night out, always report them to venue staff, street pastors or directly to our officers.”

The Force’s Operation Kayak, which places plain clothes officers out into public spaces during the night-time economy, continues to operate town centre patrols with officers on the look out for any predatory behaviour.

Anyone with information about any of the incidents should call Northamptonshire Police on 101, quoting reference number 21000542369.