Officer ‘gobsmacked’ after filming ‘UFO’ hovering in skies

Retired PC Alan Godfrey claimed he saw a UFO hovering over Todmorden, West Yorks in 1980 and insists it was covered up by the MOD and his superiors

A RETIRED police officer who claims he witnessed an infamous UFO has spoken out ahead of the 40th anniversary of the sighting - and insists it was covered up by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and his superiors.

PC Alan Godfrey was searching for a herd of missing cows when he encountered the strange craft in Todmorden, West Yorks, on November 28, 1980.

Now, 40 years on, he remains as mystified as ever but remembers the sighting vividly.

Alan, 73, said: “After 40 years, the encounter is as fresh in my mind as though it was yesterday but the mystery of what it was remains unanswered.”

At first he thought he was looking at a bus or a hot air balloon that had crashed but on closer inspection, he realised he was seeing something out of this world.

He grabbed a pen and drew a sketch of the UFO in his police notebook after his radio failed to work. He noticed the bottom was rotating.

Suddenly there was a bright flash and he was 30ft further down the road. The object had vanished.

He drove back to the scene and discovered the road was dry despite it having rained.

A bus travelling on the road stopped and the driver got out and noticed the same thing.

Alan returned to the station but couldn’t account for 25 minutes of what alien abduction researchers call ‘missing time’. He also had a split boot but couldn’t account for it.

Under hypnosis, arranged by solicitor Harry Harris several months later, he recalled seeing small beings and a tall man with a beard on the craft, who conducted medical tests on him.

His encounter is regarded by researchers as the first alien abduction in the UK.

Six months earlier Alan found the body of a Polish man who had been missing for five days on top of a pile of coal in Todmorden.

Zigmund Adamski, 56, had burn marks on his neck, head and shoulders and a strange ointment on the marks which could not be identified by scientists.

James Turnbull, the coroner who dealt with Zigmund’s death, said it was the biggest mystery of his career.

Alan, who has raised thousands for charities with public talks over the years, believes ‘dark forces’ tried to silence him from speaking out about his UFO experience.

He received letters from

Professor Valarie Sakharov, of the Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow, expressing interest in his sighting and another big case - the Rendlesham Forest incident four weeks later which involved US military personnel from RAF Bentwaters, in Suffolk.

Alan believes his phone was then paid a visit from a mystery man from the MOD.

Speaking to UFO Chronicles, Alan said: “The powers that be decided to discredit me. It started very small and built into a crescendo that went from the sublime to the ridiculous. I’ve never understood why they did it.

“There must have been a reason for what they did to me. I got a letter from a professor at Moscow University.

“He wanted to know if I could assist him with my encounter and an encounter that took place at an American airbase in Suffolk. I’d never heard of it then but it happened four weeks after my encounter.

“Like an idiot, but because I was a copper and wanted everything in the open, I passed on that letter on to my superiors.

“It was shortly after that I met a Man from the MOD.

“‘Just call me the man from the ministry,’ that’s all he said.

“This man had a file with him. It was about an inch thick. He was reading it. I could see my drawing I’d done was in it.

“As he was fumbling about, I could see a sudden death report. I recognised it straight away.

“It was Adamski’s file so they’d been put them both together.

“Why, I don’t know. Because the Russians were involved, I was asked to keep in contact with this professor and pass on any letters I’d get to my superiors who would pass it on to the Man from the Ministry. RAF Bentwaters was an RAF station which the Americans used.

“There was a nuclear base there. Here’s PC Plod stuck in the middle of it. Looking back, I was being treated like sh*t.

“My file doesn’t exist at the MOD because if it did, it would have been released by now. I have to ask myself where is it?

“Where is Adamski’s file?

Alan was searching for a herd of missing cows when he encountered the strange craft

Why did the Man from the Ministry have both files?

“My file is one piece of paper with a report on about what happened that night and a drawing. I had sent it in to Divisional Office who sent it to the Ministry of Defence.

“Either it’s been classified or the police got rid of it, which I doubt because the Man from the Ministry wouldn’t have got involved?”

Alan, now a grandad-of-three and has recently battled a brain aneurysm and sepsis, remains open minded about his alien abduction.

He believes he may have jumbled up memories of a book he read about an American couple called Betty and Barney Hill who claim they were abducted by aliens in 1961.

But he is convinced he saw a strange craft 40 years ago.