WHAT WAS CLAIMED
British woman Millie Taplin was paralysed after Muslim men spiked her drink on the way to a nightclub.
OUR VERDICT
False. The claim comes from a parody account and the suspect was never identified.
AAP FACTCHECK - A drink-spiking case involving a young British woman is being blamed on a gang of Muslim men on social media, but there's no evidence of this.
The claim appears to be based on a post from a parody X account made nearly five years after the incident.
UK news reports confirmed the woman was already inside a venue when she was handed the drink in 2021 and police confirmed that no suspect has ever been identified.
The claim appears in several Facebook posts from users in Australia, the UK, the US and elsewhere, all using similar or identical wording.
"On Her 18th Birthday, Millie Taplin Was Heading to a UK Nightclub When Muslim Men Offered Her a Vodka Lemonade — One Sip Later, She Was Fully Paralyzed," the caption reads.
The post features an image of Ms Taplin in hospital and suffering what appears to be a form of paralysis or seizure.
"Horrific Muslim Gang Attack: Muslim Men Offered 18-Year-Old Millie Taplin a Vodka Lemonade on Her Birthday, Then Drugged and Paralyzed Her," the caption reads.
Ms Taplin became unwell during a night out at MooMoo nightclub in Southend, a coastal town 40km east of London, according to a Sky News UK article published several days later on August 5, 2021.
She said she started to feel hot and sick after "taking a few sips of a drink that had been bought for her".
Ms Taplin then vomited and had blurry vision and was taken to hospital, Sky News reported.
Hospital staff told the 18-year-old that they suspected her drink had been spiked with two unknown drugs, Yahoo News reported.
The MooMoo nightclub said in a statement that Ms Taplin's drink appeared to have been given to her by "a person known to the lady".
The venue's statement also said the incident was not reported to its staff at the time.
Ms Taplin was also interviewed on ITV's This Morning program on August 9, 2021.
She said she suspected one particular drink she was given by "someone else" in the nightclub could have been spiked, but she did not know for sure (timestamp two minutes 28 seconds).
The 18-year-old did not suggest in the interview that the drink was handed to her on the way to the nightclub, nor that the alleged offender was a Muslim.
AAP FactCheck could not find any credible reports that the perpetrator was a Muslim, or that a stranger handed Ms Taplin a "vodka lemonade" on her way to the nightclub.
Essex Police investigated the incident in 2021 and confirmed to AAP FactCheck on June 8, 2026, that no suspect in the case was ever identified.
New claims about the perpetrator's religion began to appear on social media in early 2026.
The earliest version AAP FactCheck could find was an April 19 X post that features identical wording to the Facebook posts.
The post was from a parody account that uses a profile picture of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and the username @WHLeavitt.
Ms Leavitt's actual usernames on X are @PressSec and @karolineleavitt.
The fake X account's description reads: "Commentary account. A DC insider helping President Trump drop politically incorrect truth bombs — and triggering the woke leftists."
Sources
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