Nottingham attacks prompt new student safety app

Two university graduates have developed a student safety app in response to the Nottingham attacks.

The free app, created by former Nottingham Trent University students Monica Ghuman and Eloise Paling, will allow young people to inform each other about incidents or safety risks in real time.

Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, were stabbed to death by Valdo Calocane on 13 June 2023.

Mr Webber's mother, Emma Webber, told the BBC she commended the graduates "for their compassion, for their care and for their insight", adding she could not endorse the idea enough.

Ms O'Malley-Kumar and Mr Webber, who were studying medicine and history respectively at the University of Nottingham, had been walking home when they were attacked.

Ms Paling, 23, said she did not go to bars or clubs during her first year of university, adding: "I was too scared."

She was in her second year of her studies when the Nottingham attacks took place and said it "hit hard" when she found out what had happened.

The app will allow users to create an instant report from their phones to outline what the risk or incident is, where it is and upload an image.

That information will then be sent to a control room, where any sensitive information is redacted, before being sent back to anyone else in the area who has the app.

It will also allow users to select emergency contacts and friends who can access their live location.

Ms Ghuman, 21, said the app would alert other students to potential risks so they could "look at avoiding the area or take a safer route home".

"All our application is, is a facilitator for this, and when appropriate, if we need him to do so, our control room man can escalate an issue [to police]," she added.

Ms Ghuman also said the app had been in development for two years, had undergone testing and trials, and was compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Ms Paling and Ms Ghuman, who both graduated from university with a business management and entrepreneurship degree, said they wanted something similar to their app to eventually be available to other groups - not just students - across the UK.

Mrs Webber said the Barnaby Webber Foundation, which was set up following his death with the aim of supporting young people in need, was "100% behind" the app.

She urged universities and other organisations to consider endorsing the idea.

The app will be launched at the end of August and will be available across the UK.

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