FIGHTING back tears, a Suffolk woman today told how her drink was spiked with a date-rape drug during a night out.Her claims came as the county's police said they believed many victims do not report suspected drink spiking and urged anyone who thinks they have had a similar experience to come forward.

FIGHTING back tears, a Suffolk woman today told how her drink was spiked with a date-rape drug during a night out.

Her claims came as the county's police said they believed many victims do not report suspected drink spiking and urged anyone who thinks they have had a similar experience to come forward.

Their concerns were backed up at the weekend when Essex Police tested 200 drinks in a Chelmsford nightclub on Friday and found traces of date-rape drugs in four per cent of them.

The 25-year-old Suffolk victim had been enjoying a night at Pals nightclub in The Buttermarket, Ipswich.

By around 10pm – after having had two glasses of wine and just over a glass of champagne – she was violently ill and lapsed into unconsciousness.

She believes her drink was spiked with the drug GHB.

The woman said: "We had had a bottle of wine between three of us before we went.

"We went there, bought a bottle of champagne and sat down at a table. We were chatting with some guys there. I was just talking to this one bloke, who was with his two mates.

"Then I went across to the other side of the dance floor and started a second glass of champagne.

"I got quite suddenly drunk. I couldn't concentrate, couldn't think, couldn't move. I have never felt like that – not on the worst night ever.

"Everything was blurry and when I moved my arm, I could still see the trace of its movement in the air. After that – nothing. I don't remember anything.

"It's really scary. It's like a whole segment of my life is just blank.

"The only reason I knew I hadn't been raped was because my friend Amy was there and she wouldn't have let anything happen to me."

The woman was taken to Ipswich Hospital after the incident, which happened on Friday, October 31.

The woman did not come round until around 12.30am the following day.

She added: "The hospital said they couldn't find any trace of anything, because I had been vomiting and had severe diarrhoea.

"The policeman said to my mum that it seems like it could have been, or probably was, GHB, which doesn't leave a trace."

Amy Parker, 22, of Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, feels certain the incident was not due to her friend having drunk too much or having taken any substances intentionally.

The ambulance service confirmed they received a call to Pals that night at 10.23pm and took a woman to Ipswich Hospital with a suspected overdose or

poisoning.

A spokeswoman for Pals said: "The paramedics on arrival confirmed that the girl's drink had probably been spiked.

"Once that happened, Pals staff searched the men who had been talking to the girl all evening, but nothing was found on them."

Suffolk police have recorded the incident, in case anything of a similar nature is reported.