The parents of a tragic Scots spiking victim who died after being given the equivalent of five ecstasy pills have spoken out after the number of cases in Scotland has risen rapidly since 2019.
Greg Mackie was only 18 when he was found dead at Edinburgh College following the incident in 2017. He was discovered by a janitor in the bathroom on campus. A toxicology report found the film and media student had the equivalent of five ecstasy tablets in his system, but no trace of alcohol.
The tragedy devastated his family, but through their grief, parents Colin and Mandy Mackie, from Biggar, launched a campaign to tackle drink-spiking and now lead Spike Aware UK.
According to STV, the number of spiking cases recorded by Police Scotland has risen rapidly over the past five years.Through freedom of information requests, Scotland Tonight uncovered that, in 2019, just 44suspected crimes were reported – but that number increased to 295 in 2021-22.
Since 2023, 168 spiking cases have been reported to police in Scotland. However, only nine of those cases have been passed onto the Crown Office, with the others deemed to be lacking evidence.
Speaking on Thursday night’s episode of Scotland Tonight, the heartbroken parents discuss their son’s death death.
Mandy said she believes her boy was “murdered”. She added: “No one’s ever been pinpointed for it. It was always shoved under the table as a drugs overdose. On my son’s death certificate, it says a drugs overdose – but as far as I’m concerned, my son was murdered.”
Recalling the moment she was told Greg had died, Mandy says: “It was just a knock on the door at six o’clock in the morning. Two police officers walked in and just said to us, ‘your son’s dead from a drug overdose’. And we said, ‘no way’.”
Colin Mackie adds: “Greg would’ve been 25 yesterday and I’ll always wonder what he would be doing now. Would he be married now? Would he still be single? I just don’t know – and that’s the one thing I’ll always wonder as each year comes. What would he be doing now? Where would he be? We’ll never know.”
In Scotland, spiking isn’t a standalone criminal offence. Cases are instead investigated as drugging – where someone is given drugs without their knowledge – or under the Sexual Offences Act. In Greg’s case, police weren’t able to prove who was responsible, so no further action was taken.
The Mackies felt that police didn’t seriously consider the possibility that Greg had been spiked. Mandy says: “We ended up doing a lot of looking into things that were going on and finding out things ourselves, because no one was telling us anything. We were just alone – there was no one.”
As well as Colin and Mandy Mackie, Scotland Tonight: Spiking in the Spotlight features interviews with young spiking victims and representatives from the hospitality industry.
Scotland Tonight: Spiking in the Spotlight airs at 8:30pm tonight (Thursday 3 October) on STV and STV Player.
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