A national mobile phone register has being launched aiming to reduce the theft of phones and return lost or stolen handsets to their owners.

The new register is a free service available to anyone in the UK and is being run by the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit (NMPCU).

From Wednesday, mobile phone users can add their details to the database by logging onto www.immobilise.com and inputting their phone's 15 digit unique serial number.

The register will allow police to check recovered phones against the system and contact the the owner.

In a pilot test of the registration system supported by the NMPCU, Home Office and the mobile phone industry, over 2,000 mobile phones were linked back to their owners and a large number of people were charged with the original theft of the phones.

Home Office minister Hazel Blears said: "The register will be of great value to our fight against street crime, which has already seen robberies - many involving theft of a phone - fall by 24 per cent in the two years since we launched the street crime initiative.

"Police officers will be able to use this new law enforcement tool - the latest development in partnership working between the government, the police and the mobile phone industry - to identify stolen mobile phones.

"And now the public can join us, by registering their phones online. The more phones that are registered, the more effective the register will be."