New drug testing kits are helping Guernsey police investigate drinks spiking

Guernsey police have new testing kits that can help trace 10 different substances that may be used to spike drinks.

The kits can give results in five minutes without having to rely on blood tests. Instead, they test urine samples.

These new tools can help Guernsey police investigating drinks spiking meaning they are extremely useful with early lines of enquiry.

The kits come in after a couple of potential drink spiking reports at Vale Earth fair. There have been around 10 reports of drink spiking in Guernsey in recent months but so far, there have been no prosecutions.

Drink spiking testing kits being used by Guernsey Police Credit: ITV Channel Television

Thomas Lowe, Detective Sergeant for Guernsey police, says: "it gives us a direction of if there is anything in the system, what it is and what we need to be searching for.

"Also, medically if there is anything in there, the complainant needs to get up to hospital. But if there isn't anything in there, it gives the complainant a bit of peace of mind that out of the 10 drugs that it does test for, there is nothing in their system."

Bar and door staff at the Liberation group, that owns multiple pubs across the island, have received special training on how to keep customers safe.

Patrick Anslow, a Guernsey pub manager, says: "We've got a duty of care, without a shadow of a doubt. I think our priority in this establishment is to make sure that we've got good staff on that know what they are doing.

"Its important that customers know that they can go and talk to bar staff or to door staff if they've got any incidences or issues."