After a life in television, including developing satellite broadcasting, Janet Warren is again breaking new ground, this time in the world of Neighbourhood Watch.

The 71 year-old, who lives in Belton, is working with Russ Horne of Rutland Neighbourhood Watch, and the group is attracting international interest for its app, which as well as detailing crime and other information, is also helping police solve it.

Janet, who was born and raised in London, moved to Rutland in 1999 from the capital with her husband David Warren- an international extruded plastic tubing manufacturer who needed to move closer to his factory Colex in Market Harborough.

Earlier, when aged in her 20s, Janet was a director of Richard Price Television Associates television production and sales company, which made programmes including Nicholas Nickleby for the start of Channel 4 in 1982.

Janet also carried out research for Satellite broadcasting over Europe which went on to become Sky.

Janet told Nub News: "I was the first person to satellite programmes both into and out of the UK most notably the Oscars which had to be previously rushed from Heathrow to Technicoour delaying their transmission in the UK.

"Outgoing productions included the prequel to Thames Television's Telethon - a satellited yearly inserts from London for TVW in Perth Australia, which in the 1970's allowed us small footprint for people such as Timothy West, Jim Henson, Cliff Richard and many others who kindly donated their time to raise money for the children's hospital."

When Janet moved to Belton, she was asked to be a local coordinator for Rutland Neighbourhood Watch and later when meeting Ruthven Horne, the then Chairman, challenged with bringing the organisation into the 21st Century with a method of communication between the public, NHW and the police.

The challenge was to develop an interactive system to communicate messages, be it using phone number, email address or a website and on very little budget, which come from Rutland County Council and Leicestershire Police.

Janet enlisted the support of Nottingham-based The App Office, who supported her vision and it developed the app, which has been used to develop similar apps across the country.

Janet said: "Our research revealed that no one had prior to that time come up with such an App and this would have to be free to download and to use with the additional challenge of no advertising because of the sensitive nature of its content. "

Janet and Ruthven slogged away at the coalface for a year designing and loading the App with valuable information and the Rutland Neighbourhood Watch and Community app was born on 30th November 2016.

The launch at Rutland County Council was carried out by the then Lord Lieutenant of Rutland, Sir Laurence Howard. So pleased was the county council with it, the app won a Rural Service Award that year.

Janet continued: "Having launched the App we realised we needed a website to back it up because App alerts are rather like Twitter feeds need to be brief and concise. It took another year to create the website, again without any funds, but the clicks back from the App are now many thousands every week.

"The more people who have the App the more powerful it will be in assisting the police to deter criminals from visiting Rutland. It has already been responsible for catching someone who was taking large sums of money under false pretences for mediocre jobs around the gardens.

"The success of identifying and the police apprehending the criminals was down to the eagle-eyed interest of those residents of Rutland who were using the App and responding calling in where the vehicle could be found and backing it up with photographs for the police.

"Another occasion resulted in the police asking us to put out a photograph of a van in which they had an interest. The van was spotted almost immediately by an App user who was also involved with Rutland NHW and he followed the van at the request of the police on an open hands-free line until quite sometime later, or so it seemed, the police were able to take over and apprehend a couple of people who had been involved in church lead thefts in Rutland."

The App has had to evolved with the times. In addition to crime and travel alerts, it now contains critical Covid information and emergency numbers for Rutland County Council, Samaritans and many organisations offering support.

Now, it claims hundreds of thousands of views every six months- the number growing all the time.

Janet said: "It is followed by many other countries who are looking to create something like it for their communities. We are occasionally contacted and asked for further information.

"We were visited at Wigston Police Station by the Irish Ministry of Justice who were interested in it for Northern Ireland and had already been running very successful tests. They were glowing in their praise. This App works. It really works."

The App is stacked with useful information from the name, collar number and email address of everyone's Police Constable to listings for surgeries, vets and dentists.

There is also Fix My Street linked to Rutland County Council enabling everyone to photograph or film fly-tippers, abandoned vehicles, graffiti and highways issues using the direct link.

Janet explained: "It does take dedication and time to pack it full of information and keep up to date which current needs such as the inclusion of local Covid support, etc, which we originally didn't anticipate add to enormously.

"Sourcing material and adding to the App takes a good few hours each day and undertaking changes and improvements adds to that. We really are at a time in the history of Neighbourhood Watch when pulling all these modern concerns together is more than beneficial for communities."

Janet added: "It's a powerful tool in anyone's pocket and we wholeheartedly recommend that everyone downloads it.

"We still have no money and we are looking for volunteers to assist us to ensure the Rutland App moves forward into the future offering Rutlanders whatever they may need" so contact us if you are interested and have a reasonable knowledge of using a computer and the internet.

"We also have a very underused donation button so if you are feeling generous as we approach Christmas time perhaps you may be able to donate a few pounds.

"Lastly my thanks to Christian RedKen who very kindly redesigned our block."