A RURAL inventor working to prevent farm burglaries has come up with a device that could help in the fight against global terrorism.

Know Limited, of Saltburn, near Redcar, in east Cleveland, is launching a sophisticated mobile phone detector and signal blocker.

Mobile phones have become an integral part of the terrorist's armoury, enabling a bomber to trigger explosives from miles away.

The company's director, Brian Richmond, had the idea after his North Yorkshire farm was targeted three times by professional criminals.

Research has proved that the invention could also prevent major terrorist attacks, such as the Madrid train bombing.

Mr Richmond, 38, said: "Mobile phones have made life much easier for criminals.

"I was told by the police that the gang who robbed my house three times were using mobile phones.

"I thought someone must make a mobile phone detector, but there was nothing on the market that did what I needed - apart from military kit costing thousands."

The potential of his invention became apparent after suspected Islamic terrorists blew up a train in Madrid on March 11 last year, killing 190 people and wounded more than 1,800.

They are believed to have used a mobile phone to detonate four backpacks full of plastic explosives.

"Mobile phones make excellent bomb detonators," said Mr Richmond.

"Al Qaida and the IRA have been using them for years."

Entrepreneur John Evans, who lives in a neighbouring village, but works on Teesside, helped Mr Richmond develop the invention.

"We are working on directionality," he said.

"This means if you are in a no-mobile area, the machine has a pretty good idea it is you that has a phone switched on in your pocket.

"The next step is to be able to detect dormant phones. With those two aspects in place, the terrorism aspect comes into play.

"You would be able to detect that a phone had been left switched on in a bag for an hour at a railway station, or in a supermarket."

The pair have won a £60,000 grant from the North East Proof of Concept Fund.

The fund, part of NorthStar Equity Investors, was set up to ensure good ideas become new businesses.

It has also had support from Tees Valley Regeneration and Codeworks.

Most of the money will go to telecommunications experts at Newcastle University, who are preparing a prototype and securing intellectual property rights.

The first model, designed to work on farms, is expected to be ready by the end of the year.

The plan is to develop this for domestic use, then concentrate on its counter-terrorism potential.

Mr Richmond said: "It has to be at a price that makes it commercially accessible. There are many things that a mobile phone can do - applications that they were not meant for.

"You could tape one under a table, set it on silent and phone it up to bug a boardroom. Now, with cameras, you can even get video pictures if you hide it in the right place.

"We want our product to become the speed camera of mobile phones.

"We don't want to take away people's civil liberties - just make sure phones are not used dishonestly."

Know Limited has enlisted Sunderland-based RTC North to carry out research into the mobile phone market.

Mr Richmond hopes the business will eventually provide manufacturing jobs in the region. "I don't believe electronics have to be made in the Far East," he said.

"We are going for the quality end of the market, so this could be made in the North-East."

Richard Exley, fund manager from NorthStar Equity Investors, said: "This project highlights why the Proof of Concept Fund is so important.

"Brian had the seed of a brilliant idea and needed a cash investment to take this idea to the next level.

"We have stepped in and provided the cash and the support-structure to make this happen."