A teenager claims to have had a close encounter with an alien spaceship last Wednesday night as UFO fever continues to grip Hounslow.

Jahtel Roberts-Joseph insists he saw a strange craft, about the size of a small trampoline and with flashing lights, make a crash landing in a tree on Hounslow Heath.

The 17-year-old, of Bramley Way, Hounslow, said: "It was the size of a small trampoline, but quite chunky, and had red and blue lights all round which were so bright you couldn't stare directly at it."

He and a friend fled in terror but by the time they returned moments later the 'craft' had vanished, leaving only a patch of flattened grass and a few broken branches in its wake.

Jahtel, a pupil at Feltham Community College, insists the 'spaceship' was too large to be a model aircraft and too small to contain a human pilot.

"I never used to believe in UFOs but I've had to change my mind after seeing the evidence with my own eyes."

Jahtel's 'encounter' follows a flood of reports about mysterious lights hovering in the night sky on July 6, which police insist were just entertainment at a party.

(Original headline: Close encounter for Hounslow teen )