Spiking by injection: woman, 25, had to be resuscitated 30 times after being spiked with a needle on night out

Tammie-Michelle Edwards collapsed while on her first night out since giving birth to her son
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A new mum’s husband saved her life after she was spiked with a needle on a night out.

Tammie-Michelle Edwards, 25, collapsed while on her first night out since giving birth to her eight-week-old son James with her best friend Lizz Fawcett, 20, on 13 August.

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Her husband James told of how he had to “resuscitate” her and that she “she literally did die in front of me”.

She remembers having a few drinks and a couple of glasses of Prosecco before going out, and only had a couple of drinks and drank water while she was out.

Tammie-Michelle, who had CPR around 30 times, is now speaking out to warn others.

Tammie-Michelle Edwards was needle spiked while on a night outTammie-Michelle Edwards was needle spiked while on a night out
Tammie-Michelle Edwards was needle spiked while on a night out

But the next thing she remembers was leaving Royal Lancashire Infirmary the next day at 6am after she was spiked with a needle in her arm - leaving her unresponsive.

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After sending her husband James ‘jibberish’ messages that ‘didn’t make sense’, he came to pick her up.

But he found her unconscious outside The Crafty Scholar in Lancaster and rushed her home to Morecambe.

‘She was sat on a chair like a dead body’

James, 27, said he had to stop the car to resuscitate his ‘lifeless’ wife around six times - and a further 10 when they arrived home.

He said: “I knew something was up, because she doesn’t text like that and I knew it wasn’t a normal her.

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“I came to the club and Lizz was saying that Tammie-Michelle needed me now. I just thought she was going to be drunk, I didn’t think at all that she had been spiked.

“Tammie-Michelle was sat on a chair like a dead body, Lizz was stood next to her with a glass of water and then there was a woman bouncer sat next to her as well. I grabbed Tammie-Michelle, and it was like dragging a dead body.

“As we were driving home, I thought she just needed to be sick as she was choking and wasn’t breathing. She was just lifeless - every time we were going around the corner she was snapping her neck, it looked like her head was going to fall off her shoulder.

“By the time we had got home, I had resuscitate her about six times. I was stood by the sink and I had resuscitated her around another 10 times.

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“We then rang the ambulance, as there is only so much you can do when you’re not a paramedic. I can only try and save her life as much as I can, it’s such a scary thing - she literally did die in front of me.”

James and Tammie-Michelle. James and Tammie-Michelle.
James and Tammie-Michelle.

Police then arrived at the house and a police officer then resuscitate her again before an ambulance turned up. Medics used a defibrillator on Tammie-Michelle’s body then continued more manual CPR.

She then went into the back of the ambulance, and after hours of not talking or responding once, she finally said she wanted James.

He said: “She didn’t say my name once. Even when she saw her mum, she didn’t acknowledge her once - she just didn’t have a clue.

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“When you’re drunk, you can at least talk but she just couldn’t.

“They said only one person could go in the ambulance with her, and Tammie-Michelle’s mum wanted to go with her. I was waiting outside the ambulance, ready to drive and follow it, but she started saying things then because her mum came out, saying she wanted me.”

‘It’s such a relief that she’s alive’

By the time she was at the hospital, she had started to come round but her brain was ‘still not working fully’.

Tammie-Michelle and James have said that Royal Lancashire Infirmary didn’t do any tests, and left her in a corridor with an old towel wrapped around her.

At 6am, they discharged her and said she was ‘100% spiked’.

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Tammie-Michelle said: “They didn’t test me, they just left me there to sit cold for hours. They didn’t take bloods, they didn’t take urine samples, they just let me sit there until I pretty much sobered up to say oh you was 100% spiked and you can go home now.”

A week on, Tammie-Michelle’s chest is still in ‘excruciating pain’ after having CPR around 30 times and she feels ‘really tired’.

James described the incident as ‘traumatising’ but is ‘over the moon’ that his wife is okay.

He added: “It’s such a relief that she’s alive, I’m just over the moon. It would have been the worst thing in the world if something had happened to her.”

‘You just don’t think it would ever happen to yourself’

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Tammie-Michelle now wants to warn others about being spiked, as she ‘never thought it would happen’.

She said: “I’m very conscious of leaving my drink, if I have left it, I won’t go back to it. I’m very good like that, I’m not stupid - I always keep my drink on me, so we all think it was an injection.

“Because I was pregnant last year when spiking was a big thing, I thought I would be fine when I finally could go out. You just don’t think it would ever happen to yourself, and then it happened to me on the first night out after having my son. It’s just crazy, really crazy.”

She also had advice for others: “Please just be careful, I would suggest maybe going out in a bigger group and just stay safe. The venues should be patting people down and checking people’s bags, well that’s what I want them to do.”

Tammie-Michelle Edwards spike mark.Tammie-Michelle Edwards spike mark.
Tammie-Michelle Edwards spike mark.
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A spokesperson for the Crafty Scholar said: “We take every allegation of spiking very seriously and we would like to reassure all our guests that customer safety and wellbeing is our priority.

“Our door team assisted Ms Edwards, when she became unwell, and provided a chair and water. They waited with her until her husband arrived and took her home.

“We continue to have enhanced safety measures in place including searches on entry, publicising “Ask Angela” in our toilets, providing drinks covers to anyone who wants them.

“And we also have Guest Support colleagues – if any guest has concerns or feels vulnerable they can ask the Guest Support colleague or any other member of our team for help.

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“We continue to work with the police and local authorities to ensure a safe night out is had by all.”

Lancashire Police said: “It’s been reported and we are looking into it.”

Royal Lancashire Infirmary have been contacted for a comment.