Was it proven that a Muslim man spiked Millie Taplin's drink in an Essex, England, nightclub on her 18th birthday in 2021, paralyzing her? No, that's not true: Essex Police told Lead Stories there is "absolutely nothing" in the case that supports the claim. There is also no credible news coverage identifying a suspect or their religion.
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) by the @Melgibsonact account on X on Sept. 16, 2026. It read:
🚨 On her 18th birthday, Millie Taplin was heading to a UK nightclub when a Muslim man offered her a vodka lemonade.
One sip later, she was fully paralyzed.
This is how thousands of British girls have been raped.
Ban Islamic immigration and deport Islamists?
A. Yes
B. Nope
This is what a screenshot of the video in the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @Melgibsonact on X.)
The post is embedded below:
🚨 On her 18th birthday, Millie Taplin was heading to a UK nightclub when a Muslim man offered her a vodka lemonade.
-- MEL GIBSON (@Melgibsonact) September 16, 2026
One sip later, she was fully paralyzed.
This is how thousands of British girls have been raped.
Ban Islamic immigration and deport Islamists?
A. Yes
B. Nope pic.twitter.com/0jzjDzEUUh
Essex Police
Lead Stories reached out to Essex Police for comment on the claim in the post. In a Sept. 17, 2026, email, Press Office Manager David Paramore provided this statement:
I have reviewed the details of the case and there is absolutely nothing on there which suggests the information contained in that social media post is accurate. ...
I would suggest any additional amplification of the information in the social media post would just be to give further exposure to deliberately false details.
The investigation has since been filed pending any further evidence coming to light or further contact from the victim.
Taplin became ill during a night out at a nightclub in Essex in August 2021 (archived here). After drinking a few sips of a drink given to her, she said she began feeling sick and had trouble speaking and walking. She was taken to a hospital, where she stayed overnight and later recovered.
Paramore also provided the original police statement on the incident. It read:
We are investigating after we received a report of a woman having her drink spiked at a nightclub in Southend.
It is reported that an 18-year-old woman had taken ill outside a venue in Warrior Square. The report was made to us at 3.30am on ... 1 August.
The woman was taken to hospital for assessment.
No arrests have been made and our enquiries are ongoing.
News searches
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) and found no matching reports about the claim from credible news outlets using the search terms: "Millie Taplin," "spiked," and "paralyzed."
