New phone service, app to provide UK women extended safety

A new telephone service and application proposed by British Telecom will aim to provide protection to women in the UK, according to local reports.

The proposal by the telecommunication giant has already received support from Home Secretary Priti Patel, The Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

Users will download the new app and enter their home address, as well as other frequent addresses, for their extended safety.

A person can call or text 888 or enter their destination into the phone app along with their predicted time of arrival before a journey, which the GPS system will monitor via text message.

Emergency services including the police will be notified if the person does not respond to a message sent by the system checking for their safe arrival.

The Daily Mail said the BT's chief executive, Philip Jansen, wrote to Patel and that the helpline would cost around £50 million ($68 million).

"This new phone line is exactly the kind of innovative scheme which would be good to get going as soon as we can. I'm now looking at it with my team and liaising with BT," Patel told the Mail.

Jansen told the tabloid that the idea of such an app came after the abduction, rape, and murder of Sarah Everard by police officer Wayne Couzens.

Couzens used his police warrant card and handcuffs to stage an arrest before kidnapping the victim on March 3.

Everard's kidnap and murder sent shockwaves across the country in March, with women's safety on the streets since becoming a hot topic.

In September, Sabina Ness, a 28-year-old primary school teacher, was attacked and killed in London as she was taking a five-minute walk from her home to meet friends.

Her body was found near the One Space Community Center at Kidbrooke Park Road in Greenwich nearly 24 hours after the murder, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Nessa was a teacher at Rushey Green Primary School in Catford, southeast London.