Restaurateur Vikas Nath Convicted of Drink Spiking

A jury at Southwark Crown Court convicted restaurateur Vikas Nath, 63, of attempting to administer a substance with intent to stupefy and possession of a class B drug after he spiked a woman's drink with the sedative gamma-butyrolactone at an exclusive Mayfair club. The incident occurred on January 15, 2024, at the rooftop garden bar of Annabel's, where Nath laced the woman's spicy margarita with the liquid, known as GBL, while she briefly left the table.

Prosecutors described Nath's actions as a deliberate attempt to incapacitate the woman so he could take her to his Knightsbridge home for sex. Nath, who owns the Michelin-starred restaurant Benares in Mayfair along with other venues in the UK and Spain, carried the GBL in a bottle disguised as Madagascar vanilla extract. Court evidence included CCTV footage showing him seated alone, removing the bottle from his trouser pocket, looking around, and using a straw to transfer the substance into the glass. A staff member passed nearby during the act, and another customer sat just meters away.

Alert bar staff noticed Nath's unusual behavior and intervened before the woman could drink from the tampered glass. They swapped it out,...