AN EX-MILITARY man, who was trained in aircraft recognition, claims he saw a UFO while out walking his dog in Coggeshall.

Richard Gogin was with his dog, Rommel, in the grounds of Marks Hall, Coggeshall, when he saw a shape in the sky.

He said: “I was calling my dog and just above him, I saw a white-hot triangular shape.

“It was moving extremely fast.

“I tracked it for about four seconds and it disappeared as if someone had turned off a light switch.

“I have never seen an aircraft move like that.”

The 35-year-old, who lives in Hawkwood Road, Sible Hedingham, spent about a decade in the Army Air Corps.

Mr Gogin estimates the UFO was about 3,000 metres from him about 2,000 feet up and, travelling horizontally.

Mr Gogin, who is now an IT company director, said: “The only other thing it could be is a firework, but fireworks don’t travel in straight lines and fireworks become dull.

“It was quite funny, but just because we don’t know what it is, it doesn’t mean it was a flying saucer.

“I take an interest in these things and in the past couple of years I have seen a couple of other things moving in the sky very very fast between Sible Hedingham and Haverhill.”

A spokesman for the nearest airfield, the Anglian Flight Centre, based at Earls Colne Airfield, said: “We weren’t flying at that time. The last flight was at 4.20pm. We have had lots of these sightings – there must be a lot of Martians out there!”