MYSTERY solved!The riddle behind the glowing orange UFO seen by Ipswich teenager Charlotte Bevan appears to have been unravelled today.

Rebecca Lefort

MYSTERY solved!

The riddle behind the glowing orange UFO seen by Ipswich teenager Charlotte Bevan appears to have been unravelled today.

Miss Bevan, 18, spotted the mysterious unidentified flying object over Cineworld in Cardinal Park last weekend.

Now firework expert Warren Thomas, owner of the Firework Emporium in Foxhall Road, has said the description of the bright lights matched that of Chinese Glo Lanterna, which he has sold hundreds of in the past few months.

Mr Thomas said: “It is all a bit of a laugh - but I think I have the answer.

“We sell a lot of them during the summer. You light a cardboard square and the lantern starts to ignite and fill the paper balloon up with hot air.

“The lanterns go into the air and glow a red-orange colour.”

His logical explanation comes after other people also said they had seen the strange lights in the night sky.

Needham Market couple Twailing and William Crawford said they saw the objects float overhead while they were relaxing with friends in a Great Finborough garden one evening in late May.

The pair even contacted the police because Mr Crawford, 54, works as an aircraft engineer and was convinced the lights were not coming from any aircraft.

Mrs Crawford, 43, of Pinecroft Way, said: “Then we saw red lights in the sky. There was one, and then another came behind it and there were ten in all in a straight line.

“Then they just disappeared, they were like blips and were gone.

“We thought it was very strange. There was no noise and they were there for 15 minutes. We tried to take photos but nothing came out.”

The strange lights were seen again and captured on video on Monday night in the Colchester Road area of Ipswich.

Other sightings of the Suffolk UFOs

Amanda Bull said she also saw a strange object. She said: “My husband and I saw this at about 9.30pm, flying over Kesgrave heading eastwards. It was quite high in the sky but again no noise whatsoever. When we saw it, it seemed not just to be an orange ball, but you could visibly see what looked like flames coming from it.

Angie Paley said: “My husband, daughter and I also saw a bright orange oval shaped light in the sky over Kesgrave at about 9.30pm. Surely it would have been too late in the evening for a hot air balloon?

Robert Thorpe from Ipswich said: “Just over three weeks ago me and my wife had left my sister's in Downside Close between 9.30pm and 10pm and we both saw a red/orange glow in the sky. All that we could think of at the time is that it was a hot air balloon but we could not see the balloon only the glow and there was no sound. We thought it was quite late for a hot air balloon flight.