A TEAM of Malvern scientists have used their local watering hole to help develop a completely secure method of communication.

The trio from QinetiQ used trips to The Wyche Inn to develop the ultra-secure communications that are set to be used all over the world.

They announced this week that they had broken quantum cryptography records by beaming a digital 'key' for deciphering coded information over 23.4 kilometres in Germany.

The project, which sends photons of light by laser over long distances, was initially tested 18 months ago between QinetiQ's St Andrew's Road base and The Wyche Inn, one mile away on the side of the Malvern Hills.

The latest achievement, in conjunction with a Munich university, means the completely secure method of communication could be a reality, whether for mobile phones or secure computer networks.

The photons are unsuitable to carry actual messages but can be used to establish identical random numbers at both the transmitter and receiver, which can be used to encode and decode data. Attempts to intercept the digital key would change the state of the photons, informing the recipient that the transmission was not secure.

Research team leader Professor John Rarity said signals could be beamed to orbiting satellites within five or ten years if the millions of pounds needed could be found.

"We should then be able to relay quantum encoded keys around the globe, providing secure communications capabilities whilst still using well established communications systems," he said.