Page 20 Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019By Chris BrookeWe didn’t dig that!
Detectorists
fall ill after
eating 50th
birthday cake
‘laced with
marijuana’
‘People helped themselves to the
cake and were giving the cake to
other people – not knowing what
was in it. The effects hit people
very quickly – within minutes of
consuming their slice.
‘All those involved were suffering
dizziness and giddiness. People
were also suffering fear, anxiety
and breathlessness because they
were not used to drugs.’
Brian McLeod, who spent the
night in hospital after eating the
cake, said: ‘People were just drop-
ping. One guy was saying, “It is
just cannabis. You will be all
right.” I felt like a zombie.
‘There was an 83-year-old woman
collapsed on the floor. She could
not speak, she could not get up offthe floor. It was terrible. The para-
medics told us to breathe and
calm down but all of our heart
rates were up.’
Mr McLeod had travelled from
Brechin, Angus, in Scotland and
along with other victims had never
previously tried illegal drugs.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service
sent ‘eight ambulances, a rapid
response vehicle, two doctors, two
clinical supervisors and the
Trust’s Hazardous Area Response
Team’ to the scene.
Out of 15 treated, 13 were taken
to hospital, but have all since been
discharged. Police arrested a 48-
year-old woman from County Dur-
ham who was released on bail
pending further inquiries.A HOSPITAL psychiatric ward
saw 1,500 incidents of abuse
over just a six-month period,
police said yesterday.
CCTV revealed the alleged
crimes at the care unit, which
caters for adults with severe
learning difficulties and mental
health needs.
Allegations of abuse began to
surface at Muckamore Abbey
Hospital, in Co Antrim, North-
ern Ireland, in November 2017.
Since then 20 workers, mainly
nurses, have been suspended.
‘We are investigating over 400
incidents,’ said Detective Chief
Inspector Jill Duffie. ‘We’re look-
ing at approximately 1,500
crimes. Largely this relates to
physical abuse of the patients,
wilful neglect of patients and
inappropriate use of seclusion.’
Miss Duffie said police were
examining a series of ‘very
traumatic events’ seen in
300,000 hours of CCTV, but there
had been no sexual abuse.
MP Gavin Robinson, of the DUP,
said: ‘Candour has been
severely lacking. Every ele-
ment of this horror story must
be reviewed.’
The Belfast Health Trust said it
was trying to develop a model
of care ‘receptive to the chang-
ing needs of patients’.By Josh White
WHEN metal detectorists
get together, any drama is
usually confined to the dis-
covery of a few old coins.
But things took a mind-bend-
ing turn at one treasure hunt
when a cake thought to have
been secretly laced with can-
nabis was passed around.
The ‘spiked’ chocolate cake –
brought along by detectorist
Gary Cook to celebrate his 50th
birthday – left 13 people requiring
hospital treatment, including an
83-year-old.
Mr Cook was among those struck
down, and he told friends he was
unaware what was in the cake at
the time, having been given it by a
friend. Dozens of metal detector
enthusiasts had travelled to the
ironically named village of High
Melton, Doncaster, for a Coil To
The Soil rally on Saturday, and had
spent the day trudging across 500
acres of Yorkshire farmland.
In the evening they gathered in a
marquee to enjoy entertainment
and a raffle. Mr Cook, who had
travelled from his home in Wilt-
shire, then shared his cake around.
Craig Allison, 50, who sells metal
detectors and had a trade stall at
the event, was given some of the
treat. He said: ‘[Mr Cook] called
me over and asked if I wanted a
piece of his birthday cake.
‘I wished the guy a happy birth-
day, ate the cake and went on my
way. [But a few minutes later] I
started to feel dizzy and gotsteadily worse until I knew I
wasn’t going to be able to walk
and then I went down.
‘People rushed round me straight
away to help – I was the first of
many to go down.
‘As it was so hot the first thing
anybody thought of was that I was
suffering from sunstroke.
‘I felt genuinely terrible, I really
thought I was going to die. I did
not know what was going on, I felt
like I was drifting away.’
As people began ‘dropping down
all around’, a fleet of ambulances
was dispatched and 13 men and
women, aged from about 50 to 83,
were taken to hospital.
Julian Evan-Hart, the editor of
Treasure Hunting Magazine, said:Collapsed: Craig Allison, 50‘Sorry, Gran – it’s
just a precaution...’‘1,500 cases
of abuse’ at
single mental
health ward