AN Ilkley company claims it has discovered top secret NASA space footage which threatens to destroy a huge UFO cover-up.

Graham Birdsall is editor of UFO Magazine, part of Quest Publications International Ltd, based in West Street.

The magazine believes it has obtained authentic footage of several space shuttle missions which will no longer allow intelligence agencies to deny all knowledge of alien encounters.

Mr Birdsall is preparing to address a huge UFO conference near Las Vegas next month, where he will show the footage for the first time while simultaneously releasing the material onto the internet.

The Gazette has been given a sneak preview of material Mr Birdsall believes will 'blow people's minds.'

Although it is clearly impossible to say exactly what the images are, Mr Birdsall said NASA explanations that the white moving objects are ice crystals, simply did not add up.

"Ice crystals do not suddenly stop, hover around the Mir Space Station, go behind it for a look and then speed off," he said.

Russel Callaghan, the man responsible for the magazine web site, pointed to what he described as an abandoned satellite on the screen. The objects can be seen clustering around the object. "They are clearly taking an interest in it," he said.

Mr Birdsall said: "Once this stuff is released on March 11, people are suddenly going to be very very interested in Ilkley all of a sudden."

The magazine editor said Ilkley should prepare itself for the 'greatest story never yet told.'

The UFO Magazine team is convinced the footage is genuine and claims NASA has tried (and failed) to employ scientists to back up its ice crystals theory.

He said those who sought to mock and criticise had no idea what they were dealing with. He said those 'in the know' most certainly did and realised they had possession of material which was quite awesome in its content and breathtaking in its scope.

Mr Birdsall believes the world has the right to make up its own mind about the images. That opportunity will come at the forthcoming conference. "At that conference we will show the world there are unusual goings-on in space," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.