Love Island victim Sharon Gaffka slams Home Secretary James Cleverly over tasteless Rohypnol joke – hours after he announced major crackdown on date rape drug

Love Island’s Sharon Gaffka has criticized James Cleverly after he made a joke about giving his wife a date rape drug.

The Home Secretary, 54, made the unguarded comments at a Downing Street reception, where he told female guests that ‘a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night’ is ‘not really illegal if it’s just a little bit’, reported the Sunday Mirror. .

James also laughed that the secret to a long marriage is making sure your partner is “someone who is always slightly numb, so that she can never realize that better men exist.”

Sharon, 28, who was a victim of binge drinking and now campaigns against violence against women and girls, accused James of not treating the issue “with the seriousness it deserves”.

The influencer told The mirror: ‘To effectively tackle this problem, system changes must come from the top down.

‘While the Home Secretary’s recent initiatives to tackle surges are recognised, they do not meet the demands of campaigners. Combined with insensitive jokes, it sends the message that the matter is not being taken seriously.

‘During the holidays, incidents of domestic violence, especially against women, increase. It is disappointing that the Home Secretary does not appear to recognize the seriousness of domestic abuse and the importance of treating it with the seriousness it deserves.”

In a tweet, Sharon added: ‘If you were my husband, all you would get was divorce papers at Christmas. Awful.’

Sharon has previously told how she hit her head on a toilet and was found behind a locked cell door after her drink was tampered with while celebrating a friend’s birthday.

She said two male paramedics were present but portrayed her as someone who had “had too much to drink” rather than a needlestick victim.

Reflecting on the incident and addressing the new crackdown on Good Morning Britain today, she said: ‘One of the things that is really important with the new measures announced today is that you need staff who can stand up for people who are in a vulnerable situation.

‘I couldn’t talk at all, I was completely unconscious, and if my friends had also been infected, no one would have been able to advocate for us.

‘If a test kit had been made available to me or our friends, we knew which glass it was, we could have taken that drink and had it swabbed.

‘It’s not always obvious. There have been many cases where people have tried to go the criminal prosecution route and use CCTV footage as a form of evidence, but this has not been very clear or sometimes venues are too scared to provide CCTV footage.

‘It’s not always obvious when someone literally tampers with your drink.’

James apologized for joking about giving his wife a date-rape drug every night, just hours after announcing a crackdown on surges.

James met his wife Susie in college and the couple have two children.

Conversations at Downing Street receptions are usually considered ‘off the record’, but the Sunday Mirror decided to break this convention because of James’ position and the subject matter.

Allies of James said his comments were made in a private setting, but he acknowledges they were inappropriate.

James has previously described tackling violence against women and girls as a “personal priority” and called spiking a “perverse” crime.

A spokesperson for the Home Secretary said: ‘In what was always understood to be a private conversation, James, the Home Secretary, who addressed the surges, made what was clearly intended as a tongue-in-cheek joke – for which he apologises.’

Senior Labor figures criticized James’ “appalling” comments.

Alex Davies-Jones, shadow minister for domestic violence and protection, said: ‘It was a joke’ is the lamest excuse in the book and no one believes it.

‘If the Home Secretary is serious about tackling the spike in violence against women and girls, this will require a complete culture change. The ‘banter’ needs to stop and start at the top.”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Spiking is a disturbing and serious crime that is having a devastating impact on the lives of young women.

‘It is truly unbelievable that the Home Secretary made such disgusting jokes on the same day the Government announced a new surge policy.

‘It suggests that, despite the fact that as minister he is ultimately responsible for tackling violence against women and girls, he does not understand how serious this is. Victims will understandably wonder whether they can trust him to take this despicable crime seriously.”

Ministers have pledged to modernize the language used in the legislation to make it clear that spiking is a crime, and have announced a range of other measures as part of the crackdown.

But they have stopped short of making spiking – when someone puts drugs into someone else’s drink or directly into their body without their knowledge or consent – ​​a specific crime.

Between May 2022 and April 2023, there were 6,732 reports of needle sticks in England and Wales, including 957 reported incidents of needle sticks.

According to a report from the Home Office, police receive an average of 561 reports of spikes per month, with the majority made by women after incidents in or near bars and nightclubs.