A MYSTERIOUS craft spotted in the sky over Wanstead and Woodford has sparked UFO fever amongst shocked residents.

Five strange lights were spotted hovering over Charlie Brown's roundabout in Woodford Green, which suddenly went out one-by-one as a dark object descended to earth.

Bradley Gross, of Baddow Close, Woodford Green, was outside his home saying goodbye to some friends with his partner Cheri and 15-year-old daughter Natasha at 11.55pm on Saturday night when they saw the UFO.

The 32-year-old paint shop worker said: "It still gives me the shivers even thinking about it now. It was really freaky-looking and we saw these bright spots and then this thing slowly come down diagonally to earth.

"Without a doubt it was something odd and it could not have been a plane or a balloon as it was not moving at all and had these bright lights.

"It totally freaked my daughter out and she couldn't sleep. It could well have been something to do with UFOs as I believe we can't be the only living things in the universe."

"I stood out there at midnight the following night to see if I could catch it again but couldn't see anything."

Strange beings have apparently attempted to make contact after a hostile alien craft' was seen near Winston Churchill's statue on the Green, Woodford Green, in February, prompting the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to issue an appeal for calm. And when secret Government files were opened last month, many stories emerged such as the tale of two little boys who were terrified back in 1970 when they saw a pair of strange lights in the skies over Wanstead.

More recently, accounts cover a variety of strange sights, including one man who spotted two "giant sparklers" hovering in the skies of Woodford Green back in February, 2001.

London UFO studies group chairman Roy Lake said north-east London was notorious for UFO activity.

He added: "A lot of times these are Chinese lanterns which float up very high but from the description that must be ruled out so it's definitely an unexplained sighting.

"But there's nothing much to go on and we need more information. There's certainly been contact made with aliens as after 50 years investigating these things and talking to lots of people including airline pilots I'm left in no doubt."

A spokeswoman for the MoD played down the possibility of an alien craft.

She said: "We examine reports solely to establish whether UK airspace may have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised military activity.

"Unless there is evidence of a potential threat, there is no attempt to identify the nature of each sighting reported."