A POLICE officer's sighting of a UFO hovering over Chelsea football ground, flying Toblerones, mystery illnesses and extraterrestrial substances are among hundreds of encounters described in previously top-secret files released by the MoD today.

A POLICE officer's sighting of a UFO hovering over Chelsea football ground, flying Toblerones, mystery illnesses and extraterrestrial substances are among hundreds of encounters described in previously top-secret files released by the MoD today.

More than 6,000 pages of material spanning from 1994 to 2000 holds hundreds of other-worldly experiences with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and apparent aliens across Britain.

Aircraft of all shapes and sizes have been witnessed flying over a wide range of locations - including Chelsea Football Club and the former Home Secretary Michael Howard's home in Kent.

One man told police he was physically sick and developed a "skin condition" after an eerie "tube of light'' enveloped his car in Ebbw Vale, in Wales, at 10.40pm on January 27 1997.

The records also feature papers relating to the famous "Rendlesham Forest'' sightings in Suffolk, often dubbed as "Britain's Roswell''

Other highlights include:

- A man arrived at his Birmingham home at 4am on March 20, 1997, to discover an illuminated blue triangle hovering over his garden. The craft shot off leaving behind a "silky-white'' substance on the tree-tops, which he collected in a jam-jar.

- A UFO sighted by Boston and Skegness police, in Lincolnshire, was captured on film. The police reported the sighting to the coastguard, who in turn alerted ships in North Sea - where a crew saw more UFOs. Simultaneously, an unidentified blip was picked up on radar over Boston.

- A request submitted to former Prime Minister John Major from a councillor for an inquiry into 600 alleged sightings in Bonnybridge, Scotland, known as the "Bonnybridge Triangle''.

- An object travelling at more than 1,000 knots was tracked by a senior air traffic controller from the control tower at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, in Ayrshire, in February 1999.

- A West Lothian electrician spotted a "Toblerone-shaped'' UFO hovering over a field. A sketch of the craft is included in the report.

- A letter from senior MoD official Ralph Noyes in which he describes seeing a film of UFOs captured by RAF fighter pilots in 1956. Mr Noyes claims the footage was shown at a secret underground screening arranged for Air Defence staff at the MoD Main Building in 1970.

The files are available to download for free for a month from the website www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos

Click here to read and download the filesClick here to read and download the filesClick here to read and download the files