The man, who cannot be named, was given the SkyMinder alarm by police as part of a witness protection scheme.
Once activated, the alarm sent a message to an emergency response centre operated by SkyMinder’s designers, Skyguard. Controllers then let police know of the alert, providing them with the man’s identity, his exact location and details of the audio that was beamed to them by the palm-sized device.
Because it is accurate to within five metres, the location reference led police directly to the scene and the suspects were quickly apprehended.
The man sustained only minor head injuries from the attack but Skyguard said the situation could have been much worse had it not been for SkyMinder.
“This is a great piece of kit – ideal for domestic violence cases and witness intimidation,” a police spokesman said.
“Undoubtedly there are other areas in which it could be effectively used. I have seen at first hand on two occasions now how the seamless exchange of information following an activation results in an extremely quick response.
He added that he is in the process of raising funds to buy more SkyMinders and that he has “no doubt this is the way forward with regard to personal protection”.
Skyguard chairman Lord Dear – himself an ex-chief constable – said the technology has now proved it can help both police and public.
