Arson story prompts mother and son to create letterbox cover

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Adeel and Zahida with their letterbox cover

A mother and son team from Rochdale have received Home Office approval for a letterbox cover that they designed after watching an episode of Crime Watch.

Zahida Abbas, 47, and Adeel, 24, both work with victims of crime and set about designing a letterbox cover after watching an elderly lady’s home set a blaze following an arson attack that started through the letter box.

Adeel said: “It was last February when we were sat here watching Crime Watch and we just thought ‘why doesn’t someone do a lock for a letterbox?’ It was one of those lightbulb moments.”

Zahida added: “That night I stayed up until 2.00am drawing it up. I had the idea in my head and I just couldn’t sleep.”

Now one year on from their initial idea the pair have settled on a design and named the cover ‘Stang.’

This month they were given Home Office approval and are now hoping to get a patent for their product.

Adeel said: “I was at work and had a missed call from mum, when I phoned back she was just screaming down the phone so I knew it was good news.”

Zahida said: “It is such a fantastic feeling.

“We never imagined we would get to this stage.”

She added: “We did lots of different designs and testing of designs. It is amazing how much the design has changed – but this is the one we are sticking with.”

The metal cover locks on the letter box from the inside and is designed to be locked by the homeowner. When it is locked nothing can get through it.

The pair hope it will prevent people phishing for keys through the letterbox as well as posting petrol or fireworks through.

Their aim was for the cover to be easy to use for people of any age.

In the process of designing and testing they created three versions, each for different threat levels.

They are now looking at moving forward. Zahida concluded: “We have got big ideas for this.”