Patel gets tough over ‘date rape’ drug GHB
HOME Secretary Priti Patel has ordered tighter restrictions on a drug used by two of Britain’s worst sex attackers.
GHB is to be reclassified as Class B, meaning offenders will face harsher penalties.
The drug was used by serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga to incapacitate scores of victims.
Killer Stephen Port used the drug to murder four young men after luring them to his home.
It has been described as a sex attacker’s “weapon of choice”.
Ms Patel said: “GHB and related substances have been used to commit some truly sickening crimes including murder, sexual assault and robbery.
Victims
“I will do everything in my power to protect people from harm, which is why I am tightening restrictions around these dangerous substances.
“These changes will make the drugs harder to access and introduce tougher penalties for possession.”
Known as G, the highly addictive drug is meant to give users a sense of euphoria.
But an overdose knocks out victims and can kill.
Sinaga, Britain’s most prolific rapist, was jailed last year after he was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting 48 men at his flat in Manchester.
However, police fear he attacked more than 200 victims after taking them home and giving them drinks spiked with GHB.
Port, 45, drugged four men with lethal doses of GHB and left their bodies near his home in Barking, east London, in 2014 and 2015.
The maximum penalty for the possession of a Class B drug is five years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.