A HIGH-TECH firm has found itself the centre of worldwide attention in the wake of British youngster Madeleine McCann's abduction on the Algarve.

Blackburn businessman Chris Reid, one of the brains behind ToddlerTag, has been inundated with calls since the disappearance of four-year-old Made-leine in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz.

He has helped to devise a security tagging system at his Eanam Wharf based company, Connect Software, which is designed to prevent youngsters from being kidnapped.

Whether it is within a nursery, hotel or complex, if a tagged child moves beyond a given radius, an alarm immediately sounds.

And as the Madeleine case has made headlines across the world, requests from parents for Chris' expertise have rocketed.

Chris, 33, said: "Our background is in management software and dealing with with nurseries and after-school clubs because here had been quite a number of high-profile cases involving youngsters disappearing from such premises.

"But we had not really thought of the consumer side of things until now and the Madeleine case has brought it to the fore.

"The response has been phenomenal as the issue is obviously right in the public eye at the moment. Our internet site has also been deluged with inquiries from parents."

Chris is already in talks with a major telecoms firm, which is staging an event at the Millennium Dome involving a giant sandpit.

Plans are being drawn up to issue up to 1,500 tamper-proof wristbands to children attending the event, to allay parents' security fears over would-be abductors.

The technology works when a child is issued with a tag, either in the form of a badge, wristband or even an item of clothing.

Once the child is tagged, a series of readers' are placed around an area - and if a youngster moves out of range of these then the alarm is raised.

The sensors can also be set to alert nursery staff or responsible adults if a particular door or stairway is used.

Chris, who was raised in Blackburn but now lives in Pendle, established Connect three years ago using start-up grants from Blackburn with Darwen Council, with his technical dire-ctor Ian Edmundson.

He is in talks with commercial suppliers in America, South Africa and Brazil over marketing the tags idea.

In parts of Brazil it is estimated that seven per cent of children are abd-ucted each year.