999 calls: How to contact police when you can't speak

It is a situation nobody wants to find themselves in, but if you are ever in danger and cannot speak to phone the police, it is still possible to summon help.

Calling 999 and coughing or tapping in 55 on the keypad will signal to the call operator that you are in danger, allowing them to send officers to your location.

However, if they don't hear anything, the operator will simply hang up.

The advice comes as a report into a woman's murder said the "urban myth" that silent 999 calls will bring help must be debunked.

Karen Catherall, 45, from Gwernaffield, Flintshire, was strangled by a man she met on the Plenty of Fish dating site in September 2014.

A review said she made a 12-second silent call before Darren Jeffreys, who had a history of domestic abuse, fatally attacked her.

18 July 2018