Croydon UFO sighting included in UK's 'x-files'

4:29pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

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A woman from Croydon's account of a UFO sighting is included in the secret files made available for the first time by the Ministry of Defence.

The Sanderstead resident recalled peeping out of her bedroom window at 3am, in June 1983, and seeing a large rectangular-shaped object passing slowly.

"There seemed to be no means of propulsion. The object was not being pushed, pulled, lifted or carried - its movement was silent," she reported. She drew a picture of what she had seen and it appears in one of the eight files of reports released yesterday by the National Archives in Kew.

The documents cover the period from 1978 to 1987 and include accounts of strange lights in the sky and unexplained objects being spotted by the public, armed forces and police officers.

They are part of almost 200 files set to be made available over the next four years. A spokesman for the National Archives said the decision to make them available was taken after several requests were made under the Freedom of Information Act, and also because of a "proactive move by the Ministry of Defence for an open and transparent Government".