Rape victims could be alerted to their attackers’ movements after they are released from prison under a Spanish scheme to be studied by the Minister of Prisons.

Lord Timpson told MPs he would visit Spain to examine the country’s use electronic labels which includes a system where rape victims can require offenders to wear trackers once released from prison.

Spain has been one of the leading exponents of the use of tags both to keep track of criminals and as a form of ‘home arrest’ in the community, which offers an alternative to keeping them in prison.

Lord Timpson told MPs on the Commons Justice Select Committee on Tuesday that he was “looking forward to learning how victims can get much better information about the geographic location of offenders”, although he was not yet privy to the details.

GPS tags, generally attached to offenders’ ankles, have been used in the UK to place geographic restrictions on their movements, particularly to prevent domestic abusers and stalkers from approaching their victims.

Exclusion zone violation alert

However, Spain has gone further, allowing courts to accept victims’ requests for convicted sex offenders to be tracked by an electronic band around their ankle or wrist.

The GPS band is linked to a device owned by the victim that warns of any violation of an exclusion zone of at least 500 meters, as well as a control center run by Spanish security forces that monitors all devices.

In the event of such a violation, a police patrol car will be immediately dispatched to the victim’s location.

It builds on a system established in 2009 to protect women against domestic violence. Under the scheme, a ‘women’s hub’ monitors 450 tags at a time to enable it to act on alerts of abuses by abusers.

Lord Timpson said he was a “big believer” in offender management technology. Research has shown that tags could cut recidivism rates in half sobriety tags, which detects whether an offender has consumed alcohol, had a 97% compliance rate, he told MPs.

He said they could also be used to “nudge” – or “nudge” – criminals so they would be alerted by electronic bracelets reminding them to show up for appointments.

Lord Timpson revealed that he wore a sobriety tag “not because I was convicted of anything, but as part of my job as a minister, to see how it actually works and what it’s like to be someone who has one of these tags” .

Amy Rees, director general of the prison and probation service, said the tags also helped police prosecute released offenders by revealing they were at the scene of a burglary or other crime when it was committed . She said more than 20,000 people were on the tags.