“Can you help me? Something has been bothering me at night and I have a baby.”

For two years a woman had not been able to sleep after repeatedly seeing a black figure stood above her in the middle of the night. Fearing for the safety of her newborn baby, she reached out to Suffolk's very own ghost-busting couple to find out what was happening in her home.

For many the term "Ghostbusters" is an iconic reference to the 1984 fantasy film, envisioning a group of men dressed in boiler suits and proton packs zapping up ghosts and saving the day. But for a couple in Mildenhall this fictional story of ghosts and evil entities is very much a reality.

Alison and Adrian Bruce, who call themselves Spiritbusters International, have been helping people all over the world who believe they are being terrorised by invisible intruders.

Mr Bruce, 50, an HGV lorry driver, said: "First of all we started doing paranormal investigations and we did this for four years. Before that we were sceptics, but after I was thrown from a stool, we saw tables move, unexplained lights and smoke-filled rooms with no explanation, it led to us wanting to know more." Ms Bruce, 53, who organises spiritual events, added: "Before we started doing paranormal investigations we would always say 'well that's fake' but little did we know."

With many unanswered questions and a desire to find out what exactly they had been witnessing, the couple decided to get in touch with their spirituality, and would learn about their angel and spirit guides who would help them on this journey. But it was not until last year, that the parents-of-four were approached by a fellow spiritualist who told them she had envisioned the pair working together to perform ghost removals and it was then that they decided to train in the art of 'ghost-busting'. "We have been learning since last October, but we completed our training in January," said Ms Bruce. "We do it all from our home. First of all we connect with our guides and go through photos that have been sent to us of the building or person that is believed to have a spirit attached.

"The hardest part of it is finding out what it is, what level it is, how bad it is and how many there are. We find this out by getting yes or no answers from our guides.

"Usually we just sit together, close our eyes and ask our guides for help. We then go down our checklist and sit here connecting with them to find out how powerful the energy is.

"We rate energies from one to 10. If it's over a six or seven it's usually something demonic, off-planet or alien, they are very powerful. If they are low level they usually go at their own accord when we tell them 'you're not welcome here you need to leave'."

Mr Bruce said: "A lot of the time they move to the light by themselves but if it's nasty ones that don't want to go then we have to physically remove them.

"We ask our angel or alien guides to stand either side of the entity to take them towards the light. We can see it and people who are there can usually feel it or see it themselves.

"You can feel how powerful a demon's energy is. When I remove them I get energy that rushes from my feet to my head."

With more than 1,000 followers on their Facebook page, the couple receive messages and reviews from relieved clients, reaching as far as India, who say that their work has changed their lives for the better.

Ms Bruce added: "That's what we are here for and that's what we want to do, that is the total drive behind it. It changes people's lives.

"Our very first spirit removal was with a lady who had told us a black figure stood over every night for the last two years and she had a baby.

"We took a look and it was something quite powerful. It was off-planet, meaning it had never walked on the earth. I said 'I want you to sit down at 9pm and be calm for 20 minutes while we do our work.

"As we did it, it was really strange because I started crying and I could feel the house, and this thing that had attached itself. I messaged her when it was over and said 'it's gone did you feel anything?'.

"She said the room felt like it went from dark to light and she felt a sense of happiness. When she went downstairs her husband, who didn't believe her before, was panting on the floor and said 'what the hell was that'. After that she never felt it again."