Portsmouth mother launches safety app for children
The GutCheck app aims to tackle grooming, bullying and manipulation
A new safety app is being launched for children by a Portsmouth mother who hopes to help tackle grooming and bullying crimes.
The GutCheck app hopes to teach kids and young adults how to recognise manipulation, blackmail and bullying.
NSPCC's most recent stats showed sexual communication with children offences had almost doubled from 2017.
Marlyce Mbah, founder of GutCheck and parent to an 11-year-old, said: "As parents, we would love to keep our kids very safe and I think that is the least we can do.
"However, as the environment is changing every day, we're in a rat race to make sure that they're safe.
"If we can lower the odds, even just by a little, how much would that be worth?
"I think the cost of saying your kids will figure it out, or maybe nothing will happen, is just too great to let kids walk around without any form of protection or guidance.
"There are times where we aren't always able to respond to them because you might be at work or sometimes they just don't tell you.
"So if we can put the effort in to help them in any way we can, it will be absolutely worth it."
The app works by allowing children to type in their concerns into the app.
They then receive an instant message back, in an age-appropriate tone, highlighting the situation as well as giving advice and possible next steps.
On the app, they can also be directed to charities such as ChildLine for further support.
Ms Mbah told us she developed the app after noticing her 11-year-old was searching for advice on bullying online.