Alien cover up? Cop ‘hounded from force’ after reporting ufo

Alan Godfrey, 70, said superiors in West Yorkshire Police tried to silence him and even get him sectioned after he detailed the terrifying encounter. He has told his story in a new book

called Who or What Were They? He said: "This is the story of secret forces and cover-ups plus terrifying attempts to destroy a brave officer’s career." The demise of his career

began after he filed an official report to superiors that he lost time after witnessing an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) hovering overhead in Todmorden on November 28, 1980. He attracted

national headlines, even being interviewed by Frank Bough on BBC Breakfast. However, this led to him being banned from Todmorden police station, which effectively ended his nine-year career.

He was searching for missing cattle in Burnley Road on the outskirts of the town when he claims to have seen what he thought was a bus approaching from a few hundred metres away. But as he

got nearer, he realised it was not the 5am commuter bus, but, instead, "a large mass". He said at the time: "It was a fuzzy oval that rotated at such speed and hovered so low

over the road that it was causing the bushes by the side to shake." He claims he stopped to sketch the "UFO" on his notepad, but was overcome by a burst of light. His initial

recollection was that he was then driving his car again further up the same road - with the mysterious UFO now gone. Once back at the police station, the officer realised it was much later

than it should have been and he had lost around 15 minutes. Mr Godfrey was not going to report the encounter for fear of ridicule but later the same day heard a lorry driver three miles

further out on Burnley Road at Cliviger reported to police seeing "a brilliant white" object at around the same time.  And neighbouring Halifax police officers also called in

reports of a "brilliant blue-white glow" descending towards Todmorden, also at the same time. News of other witnesses made him file the official report, which was leaked to the

local press, and his case was looked into by UFO investigators. They convinced him to undergo hypnotic regression which produced a bizarre testimony of what may have unfolded. He spoke of

the bright light stopping the car engine. The regression produced a vivid account of an odd room which included a bearded man called Yosef, who questioned him telepathically, a black dog,

and strange small droids. The case led to a media storm, with front-page national news reports and TV appearances, and went on to become one of the country's most well-known alien

abduction cases. He said: "Someone was determined to stop at nothing to undermine my efforts to tell the truth. It turned into a nightmare and cost me dear but speaking about it is the

right thing to do."  He has decided to write the book as a way to explain his experience to his grandchildren.  He added: "This book tells it like it is – everything that occurred

but which someone did not want you to read. "When you see something like that out of nowhere and you feel strange sensations and hear messages coming into your head then you know this

is not just a routine police patrol."