The number of drug-assisted rapes has risen by almost 50 per cent in the past year. Redcar MP Vera Baird tells Women's Editor Chrosten Pears why the Government should take notice.

PAT can't remember being raped. The drug that had been used to spike her drink gave her tunnel vision, left her feeling disorientated and eventually caused her to black out. It was only when she woke up the following morning, wearing just her underwear, and with black and purple bruises around her waist and thighs, she realised something terrible had happened.

Pat, a 49-year-old secretary, believes her boyfriend spiked her drink at his firm's Christmas party two years ago and then, along with his boss, twice took her upstairs to one of the hotel bedrooms, where she was raped.

"I can't remember anything about the assault itself. There are about two hours that I just can't account for," she says. "I can remember feeling very disorientated while we were in the bar having drinks. The room went very dark and I had the most horrendous tunnel vision; people who were standing just a few feet away from me seemed like they were only five inches tall. I couldn't hear people's conversations properly. It was as if I was going deaf. Even if I'd known what was going on, I couldn't have done anything about it. I was totally powerless.

"The next day, I realised something had happened. I had these strange feelings and there were the marks on my body but, when I talked to my boyfriend, he told me that I'd been really drunk and insulting to him and that I'd got the bruises when I bumped into the furniture in the room. He used it as an excuse to split up with me. At first, I was so confused, I didn't say anything but I still had these nagging suspicions."

It wasn't until April - four months after the party - that Pat finally went to the police. Her suspicions were confirmed when she talked to hotel staff and her boyfriend's colleagues. She also learned that he was a regular customer at a number of notorious sex clubs and was advised to take an AIDS test.

When she confronted her ex-boyfriend about it, he physically assaulted her, and she decided to report the incident. An investigation was carried out but there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

Sadly, Pat's case is typical; very few people are prosecuted for drug rape. "They call it the perfect crime and it really is because it's so difficult to get hard evidence. Most people don't even report it because they don't really know what's happened," she says.

"I've coped because I'm a single mum with three children and I've just had to, but it never goes away. Never. I still have nightmares about it."

Pat is now a counsellor for the Drug Rape Trust, set up in 1999 by Peter Sturman, a detective chief inspector in the Metropolitan Police, to raise awareness and provide information and advice to victims.

Last year, the trust received more than 1,100 allegations of drug-assisted rape, compared to just 780 in 2000 - a jump of nearly 50 per cent. But, according to DCI Sturman, the Government is still ignoring the issue. It's a claim supported by Redcar MP Vera Baird, a legal expert on sexual offences and one of the organisation's trustees.

"Drug rape is not at all well-known but it's a very serious issue and something which happens a lot more frequently than people realise," she says.

"I make no bones about that fact that the Home Office has not had this issue at the top of their agenda. To my knowledge there have only been three convictions and, consequently, the Home Office sees this as a very minor problem, and one that is being adequately dealt with. They do need to be prodded into taking more notice of it."

The MP has applied for an adjournment debate in the House of Commons. If she succeeds, she will have 15 minutes to talk about the subject when the minister responsible is obliged to be present. She hopes this will open the way for wider discussion and encourage the Government to take action on what, until now, has been a neglected issue.

"No one wants to scare anyone, but people have to be aware of the dangers. They tend to think it's not going to happen to them but, although we don't have the exact figures, we know around 70 per cent of victims know their attackers."

Most people have heard of Rohypnol, the so-called "date rape drug", but are ignorant about the others, many of which are common on the club scene. Among these is GHB, also known as liquid Ecstasy, and which has just been classified as a controlled drug.

The symptoms induced by GHB and other drugs include feeling confused or drowsy, acting out of character, memory loss and, in extreme circumstances, it can have fatal consequences. In 1996, Susan Annis, a 31-year-old nurse from Sussex who suffered from a heart condition, died after her drink was spiked with a sedative.

All of the drugs pass through the system very quickly, some as quickly as within two to eight hours. By the time the victim has started to recover from the symptoms, traces of the drug may already have disappeared.

Mrs Baird says: "There is a known reluctance of women to report rape anyway but it's particularly difficult with drug rape. Flashbacks start to occur of what's happened while they've been under the influence of the drug, and it's difficult for them to be sure it's real. By the time they are certain, the drug could already have passed out of their system, making it very difficult to prosecute someone.

"That's why it's vital to persuade the police that it happens more frequently than is believed and train police officers to look for drug rape as a matter of course when someone complains. They need to register it as a possible drug rape and take a urine sample very quickly."

Mrs Baird became concerened about drug rape and rape in general while working as a full-time barrister. In 1999, she published a book, Rape in Court, criticising the way in which rape trials are conducted. When DCI Sturman set up the Drug Rape Trust, he asked her to be a trustee.

'I was delighted to be involved," she explains. "The trust does some very valuable work. At the moment, we're looking into the possibility of setting up a 24-hour hotline. Because so many victims are confused about what's happened to them, it would be very helpful to have someone who is properly trained to extract all the information and guide them through it."

Other projects include developing a swizzle stick that changes colour if drugs are added to a drink and Mrs Baird would like to see a campaign to raise awareness of drug rape, similar to the highly successful drink drive campaigns of recent years.

In the meantime, her advice is to remain alert and never leave your drink unattended. Think twice before accepting a drink from a stranger and, if your drink tastes or looks strange, throw it away. If you suspect your drink has been spiked, get help immediately. Go straight to a police station and have a urine sample taken.

"I don't know if we're ever going to find the perfect answer to drug rape but, at the very least, we can take steps to make people more aware of the dangers and reduce the number of cases," she says.

* The Drug Rape Trust can be contacted on (01702) 317695 or www.drugrapetrust.org. The Rape Crisis Federation is on 0115 934 8474.