London businessman jailed for spiking woman's drink

LONDON, Mar 3 (Reuters) A British property developer who spiked a woman's drink with a date rape drug as they dined in a London restaurant was jailed for two years.

After the verdict, his intended victim said the sentence imposed on Rohail Spall, 39, from London, was too lenient.

Spall had dropped a tablet of Xanax, a drug with similar effects to Rohypnol, into the woman's drink when she went to the toilet during dinner.

The victim had agreed to go on a date with Spall, who she thought was a high-powered, respectable businessman, after she met him with a friend at a bar in Canary Wharf last June.

They arranged to go for a meal after work and the victim said Spall made a pass at her in his chauffeur-driven Mercedes on their way to the restaurant.

During the meal, the woman could not understand why Spall insisted they drank red wine despite the fact they were eating fish, which is better accompanied by white wine.

Meanwhile, police said Spall had told the head waiter the woman was his girlfriend and he wanted to have sex with her. He said he wanted her to be ''knocked out'' and repeatedly asked the waiter to keep topping up her glass.

The waiter grew suspicious and spotted Spall dropping the tablet into her drink. Doctors say mixing alcohol with Xanax, normally used to treat anxiety, can cause severe drowsiness.

The waiter told the woman that he thought her drink had been spiked, a jury at Southwark Crown Court heard, and she alerted the restaurant's manager who called the police. Officers found a packet of Xanax pills in Spall's pocket.

Spall was found guilty last December of administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual offence.

''I don't think the sentence was long enough especially because of what I think he intended to do and what could have happened had it not been for the waiter,'' the victim, who cannot be named, said after the sentencing.

Police said any woman who thought they might be a victim of this form of ''date rape'' crime should come forward.

Reuters DH VP0430