The Burmarsh Incident
Part II
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE UFO SIGHTING IN AND AROUND BURMARSH, KENT.
BY INVESTIGATORS OF UFOMEK (UFO MONITORS EAST KENT)
Since the last report on the triangular UFO seen over Burmarsh, Kent, we at UFOMEK have received and discovered additional information.
January 1998 saw a revival of the Burmarsh sighting in the national newspapers. Both the Times and the Daily Mail covered the story. Unfortunately, they skirted around the sighting itself, and made a 'B' line for the Michael Howard angle. Both articles revealed that Sheila Gunn, John Majors Press Secretary, stated that the story was well known in the cabinet and at Party Central Office. The Daily Mail article also states that the MoD and Police claim to have no record of the sighting!!
In May of 1997, we discovered that Folkestone Euro MP, Mark Watts, had asked questions in the European Parliament about the sighting. This was in response to correspondence received at his office by concerned residents.
The Commission, headed by Niel Kinnock, replied: ...In the performance of its duties under the Treaties, the Commission does not acquire information of the kind requested. It is, therefore, unable to answer the question.'
How extremely helpful....NOT!
On the 26th February, 1998, I visited Watersones Bookshop in Canterbury, to listen to Timothy Good talk about (and publicise), his latest book 'Alien Base.
After the talk, I was chatting to Tim about the Burmarsh case, when a gentleman approached me and asked if I was one of the investigators in the case. I told him that I was. He then told me that he is a neighbour of Mr. Howard, and that around early March 1997 he and his wife had been woken in the early hours by a commotion coming from the general direction of the MP's residence. He claimed that there were many people running around shouting. He believed them to be the armed security force that is in place there. In the sky above was a helicopter, making an awful noise, a searchlight scanning the area. I asked him where the searchlights were illuminating, he replied that they were scanning the sky above and level to the helicopter.
Subsequent enquires to the MoD and the Kent County Constabulary has proved to be fruitless, apart from one important factor. When we quizzed the MoD regarding a security alert on the morning in question, they replied that there was NO security breach of any kind. The Police, however, acknowledged that there WAS a breach of security, but it had been resolved!!! Please.... we at least expected the same answer from both parties!
We told the MoD, and sent them a copy of the police letter. We heard nothing. UFOMEK even complained to the Police Complaints Commission, but were told a few months later that the police had responded to our correspondence fairly.
On the 17th August 1998, UFOMEK received correspondence at its Folkestone office. The letter in question was purported to be from one Wing Commander A.W.Ward of the Royal Air Force. Here are the contents of that letter:
Chris Rolfe,
As a scheduled first hand warning, you are no longer permitted to continue investigations into the supposed triangular shaped object that was seen over Burmarsh, Kent.
The report of this unidentified craft by Sarah Hall on the 10th March 1997 (received by researchers at UFOMEK) was made at haste. She had actually seen a Rapid Response Military Aircraft, but as to new developments, I am not permitted to release details of its structure. The disc-like shape Sarah saw, attached to the rear of the aircraft, was a long distance radar. But yet again, due to new developments, I can only be vague about its description and function.
May I state, therefore, this is not official denial. Your co-operation in this matter is vital for the security of military intelligence. You should now, therefore, proceed to leave this mistake to Sarah Hall to realise and to forget. Other reports have come through from Dymchurch, of a similar proposed UFO. These reports were acknowledged by us, and the relevant people were told the situation.
From our obvious co-operation, we would appreciate yours. This matter, as we both know, is causing emotional stress to certain individuals, and should only strengthen the need to pass this case by as solved.
Once again, this is a conditional warning.
Yours sincerely,
A.W.Ward
Wing Commander - Field Force Commander
The letter above was typed on RAF headed paper. We tried finding Wing Commander Ward, but to no avail.
That same day, UFOMEK wrote a letter to the Head of Secretariat Air Staff 2, Mrs. Mollie Field, enclosing a copy of the above communication. We stressed that we believed this threatening letter to be a forgery and that an investigation should be undertaken to find the culprit. However, if the letter was indeed genuine, then they should be aware that someone is imparting official information regarding the brief technical details.
Exactly a week later, on the 24th August 1998, we received a reply from Gaynor South at the same office. Obviously Miss Field didn't consider the document important enough to reply personally.
The letter suggested we treat the letter as unsolicited mail, and that if we felt threatened we should call our local police!!
UFOMEK then had a stroke of luck. Chris visited his local second hand bookshop and was approached by the proprietor, who knew Chris slightly. He said that he had a book that Chris might be interested in. It was the Royal Air Force List, which is literally that....a list.....but not any old list. Its lists were full of the names of Royal Air Force Officers covering the year 1991. Chris turned to the W's, and there he was.....A.W.Ward, Squadron Leader. We had now established that the elusive Ward was a real person at least.
We contacted the RAF personnel Management Centre at RAF Innsworth, using the telephone number in the RAF List. All they could tell us was that yes, there was a Wing Commander Ward, serving in the Administration Branch....somewhere.
Eventually, we established contact with the Wing Commander, who had very little to say about the matter other than denying that he had been the author of the '...reasonable hoax.'
So, if it wasn't from the WingCo., who was it from? One thing is for sure: if it is a hoax, it is from someone who has at least corresponded with A.W.Ward, as the signature is almost identical to the original.
During this period, UFOMEK came into the possession of some remarkable security camera footage from Gravesend, Kent. It shows a large, what we believe to be, triangular craft moving very slowly over the Thames on the 17/6/98, at 22.20hrs. (see still left).
Independent analysts and experts in aircraft recognition have viewed the footage. All have been amazed at the footage. The video experts have said that it is a solid object, and that there is a vapour trail, albeit feint, behind the object. Its size does not correspond with any known aircraft currently known to the general populace.We believe that this could be the same type of craft as witnessed at Burmarsh over a year before.
After this, events became even stranger.
It was around this time that I had been having trouble with my BT answerphone system. Evidently someone had been trying to access my pin number that is used to remotely replay any messages left on the system. Being a multi digit number, all attempts had been thwarted, as the standard BT warning message told me. This required me to change my pin number anyway. After the twenty-fifth or twenty-sixth time of doing this, my sense of humour began to diminish.
Towards the end of December 1998, Chris and I had arranged to visit some MoD property at Hawkinge near Folkestone, Kent, for an article for 'UFO ENIGMA', the UFOMEK Newsletter, and 'UFO MAGAZINE' concerning the so-called 'Millennium Bunkers'.
Acting on information received from an ex-ROC serviceman, we arrived at a wooded area near Hawkinge, Folkestone, called Raindene Wood, around which is a public footpath. The rest of the wood is MoD training ground, as many signs indicate.
We were equipped with a map of the woods, a digital camera, and Chris' faithful terrier, Jake. It wasn't until we got out of my car, that we wished we had brought wellington boots! The main track is used not only by ramblers, but by horses as well, and it didn't take long to accumulate a fair mass of black, gooey mud and leaf mould around our totally inadequate footwear. Still, we pressed on. I consulted the map and decided that if we took a line through the woods, we would be quite near the alleged building. As we went further into the wood, we noticed that there were many old buildings, obviously used, at some time, for training purposes and manoeuvres. Some were very old and covered in ivy and in some, even trees had grown inside the doorways. We had been in the wood for about ten minutes, when we emerged out into the open, a little of the track, but on a wide tarmac road. No sooner had we set foot on the road, Chris turned to me and said, "Don't look now, but there's a police Range Rover at the top of the road!" I looked, and sure enough there it was, complete with police officers! I suggested that we keep walking and pretend that we didn't notice them. As we turned, a comical scene greeted us. Coming towards us was a vivid red, Reliant Robin, at the wheel was a character that could have been Claud Greengrasses twin brother (a comical character in a UK TV series), attired in camo gear. In the passenger seat was a big black shaggy dog, with its head stuck out of the window, sniffing the air as they purred along. I nodded to them as they passed us, going towards the police vehicle. 'Greengrass' sneered.
Ten seconds later, our passage was blocked by the police 4 wheel drive armed response vehicle, and the driver (a sergeant), looked at us with distaste. "Lost?" he barked. I told him that the dog, Jake, had slipped his lead and we had no choice but to pursue him through the wood, eventually catching him, and then made our way to the nearest clearing, i.e.: the roadway. The police officers looked at us with even more distaste, and told us that we should keep to the path, as there is usually army training taking place. This particular day though, he informed us, there was no training scheduled. He directed us back to the footpath and made some excuse about the Gamekeeper (Greengrass), getting jittery when people were off the beaten track. They then waited until we were going in the correct direction, and then drove off down the road, and out of sight.
We analysed what had just happened:
Now, there is no way that Chris or I want to be labelled as conspiracy theorists, because we are most definitely not. However, these events weren't just coincidence, that would be far too convenient.
The Defence Land Services own the entire wood itself, although (according to the White Cliffs Countryside Project), SOME of the buildings in the centre of the wood are privately owned.
My car had been the only one in the car park the whole time we were in the wood. This was evident from the clear, undisturbed tyre tracks left by my car. This point will become relevant later on.
The ve ry next day, I had a few errands to run and left home at around 10.00am.
When I returned home at about 12.00am, my wife informed me that she had opened the door to a man in a suit, carrying a clipboard. He asked for '...Mr. J.B.Anderson...', (my full initials, only used on my bank and car documents), and was told that I was not in. she asked him to state his business. He hesitated slightly, and then informed her that he was from the TV Licensing Dept., and did we have a license. She said we did, and showed him the document. He looked at it, then walked off to a small white van parked by the gate. Getting in the passenger side, the van then drove off.
I made enquiries with the TV Licsecing Dept., and was informed that they definitely had no one in my area that day, and in fact hadn't for some time. I put the telephone down, picked it up again, and phoned the police.
Surely, the authorities wouldn't be interested in keeping tabs on a small local UFO research group, that is a ridiculously paranoid suggestion.......or so we thought.
On the 9/2/99, I received a large manila envelope in the post. My name and address was stencilled on the front in red biro, and it had been posted in Canterbury on the 6/2/99. On opening, it contained a white cassette tape. No writing, markings, nothing. When I played it, you could have knocked me down with a feather. The contents was a recorded telephone conversation between Chris and myself that had taken place in January 1998, and concerned the Burmarsh sighting and MP Michael Howard!
The tape lasted for around 20 minutes, and was clearly recorded from a third source as Chris' voice and mine were as if the conversation was intercepted somewhere along the line.
I alerted Chris, in case he should receive a similar package. I also alerted British Telecom to the fact that my system had been compromised, and after speaking to several departments, I was eventually connected to the investigation dept. I relayed my story, and they said that they would investigate.
The very next day, at 09.15, a BT Field Investigator arrived. After checking his credentials via telephone, he came in and went about his work.
After a whole day between me, the exchange, and different junction boxes, his conclusions were that there was no physical 'tap' on the line. However, he did advise me to change my number.
The Investigator was due to go and check Chris' line two days later, which he did. On the morning he arrived, Chris had also received a tape with the same conversation on it.
The BT Investigator made thorough checks on Chris' system, and again found no evidence of a 'tap'.
Whoever is responsible for this breach of privacy, conducted it from my end of the line, as my voice was the clearest and loudest on the tape, whilst Chris' was faint.
Independent tests have shown that my telephone line is 'losing' several volts. This could be attributed to an electrical fault or a diversion of current. Shouldn't the Investigator from BT have picked this up?
The independent investig ator brought in by me has stated that he believe s that the conversation was recorded remotely from near my address, using a laser directional microphone. His analysis of this is based on background noise on the tape. There is a beat on the tape that slows down gradually. This, apparently, is very likely to be the radial pulse from the 'listeners' thumb. In other words, the sound of the blood coursing through the artery in his/her thumb has been picked up by the sensitive listening equipment!
Oh, by the way, the main witness in the case, Sarah Hall, also received a tape of the conversation on the 12/2/99.
Why on Earth would someone record my telephone conversation with Chris and then send it to us a year later?
It was in February this year that a college of mine showed me the list of sightings reported to the MoD during 1997. This list simply comprises of date, and location of sighting, nothing else.
I couldn't help but notice that the Burmarsh sighting of the 8/3/97, had been omitted from the list! The only sighting on that date, according to the list, was from Hythe, Kent, a few miles from Burmarsh.
UFOMEK wrote to the MoD (Air Staff), and asked why this was so. Their explanation was that the inclusion of the date and location stated, was regarding a newspaper cutting sent in by a member of the public, and that they had NOT received any reported sighting direct about what was alleged to have occurred! Rubbish!! We have proof of many letters and reports we sent the MoD regarding the sighting in and around the Burmarsh area!
We now believe that the object described at Burmarsh and shown in the Gravesend footage are related, and probably relate to the testing or use of an advanced experimental vehicle.
We and our families have been threatened by person or persons unknown, we have been ignored and fobbed off by the MoD and other authoritative bodies. Indeed, Mollie Field, head of Secretariat Air Staff 2, sent us a reply to one of our enquiries regarding the Burmarsh sighting. It simply said, 'I have no further comment to make on the matter'. Mrs. Field is a public servant. We want answers, and we want them now. It is our right as British citizens. How dare officialdom treat us like this. After all, who pays for all this?
If you have any comments to make regarding this report, or would like to purchase a copy, please let me know by
E mail. The price of the full report is £3.00 in UK, or £3.50 overseas. Both prices include postage.
The documents attached to the report are copies of the original letters sent to us during the course of UFOMEK's investigation into this case. They are for reference purposes only. If you would like to use them in newsletters etc. please contact us...the answer will more than certainly be 'Yes'- although we would like to know where you intend to display them.
Thank you for reading this document.
Jerry Anderson Co-ordinator UFOMEK (UFO Monitors East Kent)
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