A Swindon resident has recently opened up about his experience of spotting what he believes to be extra-terrestrial life in the Wiltshire sky.

Ashley Jefferies, 76, of Blunsdon has been a resident of Swindon his whole life but never encountered quite what he did on a winter’s night in 1963 since.

The Swindonian used to live in Lower Stratton, and would meet his friend most nights for a walk around, but on one particular evening, the pair noticed something awry.

“When we were going home we crossed a railway bridge which approaches Oxford Road, where there is a Sainsbury’s there now, I saw it,” said Ashley.

“It was a bright night with a fast-moving sky and just left of where Sainsbury’s is now, there appeared what seemed like a moon.”

Swindon Advertiser: Others have claimed to have sighted UFOs in and around Swindon in the past.Others have claimed to have sighted UFOs in and around Swindon in the past. (Image: Getty)

The moon was in the sky at the time, so the pair knew what they were looking at was something else entirely.

“It was a strange silver colour and I asked my friend without looking away from it, what in the hell he thought it was,” recalled Ashley.

“It was in the sky for a minute but then it just vanished right before our eyes.”

Before the silverish object in the sky departed the scene, Ashley noticed an even more peculiar motion coming from the mysterious sight.

“You could see a blackness to it like an eclipse, creating a black halo around it, and it then moved to the left,” he said.

“Two smaller versions which were around half the size of the original then came out of the first moonlike object, with all three then moving in the direction of White Horse Hill before vanishing.”

Swindon Advertiser: Ashley believes what he witnessed that night was extra-terrestrial.Ashley believes what he witnessed that night was extra-terrestrial. (Image: Getty)

The sighting was close to an airfield but Ashley has rubbished the idea that the curious object in the sky could have been related to this.

“Nothing would have been there at that time of year or in the evening back then,” he said.

“The only thing I can think of is that it was a UFO.”

Ashley, who worked in the business of restoring old cars, has wanted to speak out about what he saw on that night for years, and finally felt able to do so following a recent Swindon Advertiser article.

“I’ve been waiting for ages to get that off my chest and when I saw the recent Adver story, I knew now was the time,” he said.

“We had told people at the time but they didn’t believe us.”