POLICE are investigating after a University of Essex student believes she was spiked via injection during a night out at the Colchester campus.

The psychology student, who has requested to remain anonymous, says doctors confirmed what had taken place when she rushed to Colchester Hospital the next day.

The 22-year-old says she woke up with an injection mark in her arm surrounded by bruising after a night out at the university’s karaoke night, Milk It, last Monday.

The student says she headed to the campus’ Student Union Bar feeling fine but would later wake up on a set of stairs in a separate building having blacked out.

She said: “I was fine, and then next thing you know I can’t walk and I can’t talk. I found myself passed out and have no idea how long I was alone for, or how I got there.

“I’m not sure how long I’d been there when it happened, I had suddenly become really ill and had been sick a lot.

“The next morning I woke up and found an injection mark on my arm. It was surrounded by bruising and, having spoken with my mum, I went straight to hospital.

“When I saw the mark I just remember thinking ‘There’s no way this is what I think it is’, it was a horrible feeling.

“I now have a feeling of dread, you think campus is supposed to be safe but now I don’t feel safe going back there.

“If this can happen in a bar on a Monday, I dread to think what could happen in the campus club on a Saturday.

“I reported it to my tutor and he advised me to speak to the wellbeing team and campus security.

“A wellbeing officer contacted me.”

A police spokesman said: “We are investigating a report of a potential needle spiking which was made to us on the morning of Tuesday March 29.

“It is reported that a woman became unwell while on a night out at Essex University on Monday March 21.

“As with reports of this nature, it has been allocated to an officer in Colchester CID.

“We are working alongside Essex University and a number of lines of inquiry are being progressed.”

A university spokesman said: “We are helping Essex Police with their investigation.

“We take incidents of this kind very seriously and we have reached out to the student to offer support.