A NORTH Yorkshire solicitor who claims she was drugged then raped while on a date today warned: never accept a drink from a stranger.
Knaresborough lawyer Lynda Greenwood says a male companion, who she had been out with several times but made clear they were just friends, spiked her glass of wine with an unidentified drug during a night out in York last summer.
She woke the next morning, naked and confused. Slowly, over the next few days, the events of that night came back to her.
"I didn't start using the word 'rape' straight away,' she told the Evening Press. "I used to say things like, 'he took advantage of me'."
She says victims of such a crime often have nowhere to turn so she has set up the Roofie Foundation helpline to offer support.
More than 110 people have called the helpline since it was launched on Christmas Eve, including 12 cases from Yorkshire. One in four callers are men.
The issue of drug rape first surfaced in America, where Rohypnol, a tranquilliser 10 times more powerful than valium prescribed for back pain and insomnia, was shown to have been used in a number of date rapes.
Scotland Yard are investigating after a series of alleged drug rapes in London.
However, North Yorkshire Police said they had received no reports of the drug being linked to rapes or sexual assaults in the county.
Ms Greenwood, a mother of one, says victims are usually confused and have poor recollection of the rape. By the time their memory returns, they may think it is too late to go to the police. Equally, she claims, the police and the CPS may be unwilling to proceed with the case in the absence of forensic evidence. That is why she calls drug rapes the "perfect crime".
And that is why, she says, she never reported her attack. She said: "I was not going to stand in the witness box and be called a liar."
She issued a warning to men and women not to accept drinks from strangers.
"If a man offers you a drink, accept, but ask for the money so you can buy it yourself," she advises.
She hopes her story will convince other victims to come forward and that over time pressure can be brought to bear on the criminal justice system to give drug rape victims the full support of the law.
She said: "Not one case has got past the CPS yet. We have heard of a case rejected three times because the evidence was so poor and of a victim paying for her own forensic tests because the police told her it was a no-hope case."
A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said all rape victims were treated equally. He said: "We have specially-trained officers, who have a rape suite, where woman can be helped through the unpleasant, distressing aftermath with the maximum support the system can provide.
"They are treated as among the most vulnerable of victims and handled with sensitivity and sympathy.
"It's very important to get in touch as quickly as possible. Conviction is difficult to secure without forensic evidence."
The Roofie Foundation can be contacted on 0800 783 2980.
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