The latest batch of 'X-Files' have been opened up to the public for the first time showing detailed UFO sightings all over the North East.

The documents, released by the Ministry of Defence this week, covers the period from 1987 to 1993.

They reveal that dozens of unexplained sightings have been reported in the region from Northumberland to County Durham.

Strange sightings including coloured lights, weird objects and moving discs, have been spotted in the skies.

One of the more spectacular incidents was recorded over Washington. During September 1988 four people reported seeing an object in the sky, which split into three circular parts of about 10 feet in diameter. The shapes changed colour from bright white to yellow.

One of the discs moved north and changed into a 'Z' shape as the second disc appeared and followed the first shape. The third disc then moved in a westerly direction at very high speed, the report says.

Newcastle Airport received several reports of mysterious sightings, including one from Heaton, Newcastle, in August 1990. It was a "round ball shaped black speck alternating light and dark" moving in a straight line out towards the sea.

RAF Boulmer also had reports of unexplained sightings. In November 1990 a couple said they witnessed a series of blue, red and white lights moving slowly above the horizon over the North Sea.

Not all the sightings were reported by members of the public. In December 1988 a police sergeant travelling in his patrol car in High Etherley, Bishop Auckland, reported seeing "a bright white light with a short white tail, which grew in length as it went over the horizon." The officer said the object was moving too slow to be a meteor but too fast to be an aircraft.

And in December 1988 six police officers in Farringdon Hall Police Station, Sunderland, reported seeing a bright white light with flashing red and blue lights which were moving slowly south following the coast line.

Northumberland has its share of UFO's. In September 1988 a husband and wife reported seeing bright lights above their home in Cramlington. The red and white light hovered over the town for several minutes.

Ross Kellett, a UFO expert who has travelled to the North East several times to study unexplained sightings, said there have been too many for them all to be easily explainable.

He said: "People are not stupid, they know when they are seeing something strange. There is no way that all of these sightings can be explained by weather effects, meteors or low-flying aircraft. And these are only the tip of the iceberg. A lot of people will never report things they see because they think it will make them look foolish. Lots of people come up to me saying they have seen things. I'm convinced there is something out there."

Among other sightings in the skies above the North East include a round shaped object with a pointed top spotted by someone on the West Road in Newcastle in March 1988.

Another was spotted above Burnhope Reservoir, County Durham. In November 1989 a couple reported seeing "a very powerful glowing white light about three quarters of a mile above the reservoir."

In October 1989 two separate reports were received of two round objects in the sky moving west over Cleadon village. They were brightly coloured red yellow and blue.

And in November 1991 a family of three saw a large, bright, white light hovering over Durham city. It reportedly had lights along its side and was a long, rounded shape. The object "seemed to bank on one side and then disappeared down and away."