Picture of Rohail Spall a Muslim Drink Spiker
A young woman whose drink was spiked with a type of date-rape drug by a City businessman, was upset yesterday when he jailed for only two years. The sentence means that Rohail Spall, who police fear may be a serial sexual predator, will be free in just over three months, once the time he has already spent in custody is taken into account.
After the case, the victim was said to be "really upset" with Judge Colin Smith's handling of the matter.
Inner London Crown Court heard that Spall, a 39-year-old father of four, thought no one was looking when he slipped a powerful sedative into the woman's glass of red wine.
But the head waiter Kevin Murphy – who had earlier been asked to keep the wine flowing because Spall wanted to have sex with the woman – spotted what he had done and warned his victim.
Police found a blister pack of Xanax, which is similar to the date-rape drug Rohypnol, in his pocket. Only one tablet was left. But there were hundreds more in the boot of his chauffeur-driven Mercedes.
"The fear is he may have targeted other women in this way in the past," said Det Con Arran Barnes.
Spall, a Pakistani-born property developer, of Ilford, Essex, insisted that the pills were to combat his own chronic anxiety and said he had got the glasses mixed up.
The jury took only a few hours to convict him of administering a substance to the 28-year-old "in order to engage in sexual activity".
During the five-day trial, the court was told that Spall first met the woman at a bar in Canary Wharf. Having convinced her he was a "high-powered, respectable" City figure, they exchanged phone numbers and, in the weeks that followed, met for drinks.
But she soon regretted agreeing to go for a meal with Spall last June. No sooner had she climbed into his Mercedes than she had to fend off his repeated attempts to kiss her.
Once they arrived at fish, a restaurant in Borough Market, south-east London, Spall told Mr Murphy to keep the wine flowing. He later whispered that he wanted "something special" to "knock her out".
The businessman's victim told jurors she had been "shocked and stunned" by what he had done.
As she watched from the public gallery, Judge Smith told the defendant he was "unscrupulous", but said he was not convinced that he posed "any significant risk".
He said he thought Spall's behaviour had been caused by his own "drunken state" and was "totally out of character".
He ordered that, after prison, Spall would be subject to a sexual offences prevention order, banning him from having any over-the-counter medication "with sedative qualities" in a public place.
Outside court, Det Con Barnes, the case officer, said he was "rather surprised" by the sentence, adding: "If there are any further victims, I hope they will come forward."
Spall's estranged wife, A'neela, said later: "He would never have done this; he's not that kind of man."