LEGEND GONE
UK’s top UFO expert dies aged 60 after brave cancer battle as wife pays tribute to ‘real-life The X-Files’ legend
THE UK’s top UFO expert Nick Pope has died aged 60.
Nick, who previously ran the British Government’s UFO Project, passed away after being diagnosed with Stage 4 oesophageal cancer.
The former Ministry of Defence official was at the helm of what was dubbed Britain’s “UFO Desk” for three years from 1991 to 1994.
While the rest of us were watching the X-Files, Nick was living it – working on some of the most high-profile sightings and cases for the Government.
This included investigating the case file on the mysterious Rendlesham UFO incident – known as Britain’s Roswell – that occurred in 1980.
His wife Elizabeth Weiss announced his tragic passing yesterday.
She said: “My heart is breaking. Nick passed away this afternoon at our home.
“The last few weeks of his life, even as he suffered, he managed to do a few interviews from home.
“I was so lucky to have met and to have married Nick. He was a wonderful husband.
“I loved him dearly.”
Once a UFO report had been made, Nick’s team would then get to work assessing the potential impact on national security and aviation safety.
Nick said the number of sightings is far higher than most people realise – estimating they received up to 300 a year on average.
And the UK’s very own “Man in Black” revealed his devastating diagnosis with a heartbreaking social media post in February.
He wrote: “A while ago, following some digestive issues, I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.
“Unfortunately, it’s Stage 4 and has metastasized to my liver.
“While I know that it’s kindness and hope that leads people to suggest healers and supposed miracle cures, and to say things like “fight it”, and “you can beat it”…
“… I’m afraid my diagnosis and my situation leaves no doubt whatsoever: I can’t beat it.
“What an amazing adventure I’ve had.
“A 21-year career at the UK Ministry of Defence, where I got involved in subjects ranging from financial policy to counter-terrorism; from military policing to UAP.
“The things I’ve done; the places I’ve been; the people I’ve met; and the secrets I’ve been privy to.
“I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world.”
Nick was at the sharp end of the UK’s response to all things that could be alien.
And while he was bound by the Official Secrets Act, he offered a rare insight into a world of classified files and unknown tech.
Many cases he worked on could be explained away – but there were some that continued to haunt Pope long after he left the MoD.
Asked which case stands out, he confessed: “The file on the Rendlesham Forest incident still keeps me up at night.”
The infamous Rendlesham Forest encounter in 1980 remains unexplained.
Pope revealed his investigation found radiation at the site after the “encounter” was unusually high.
The events took place just outside military bases RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk.
Soldiers reported seeing lights in the sky, a “craft” landed in the forest and signs of a object “landing” with burn marks on the ground.
Over four decades later, Nick, who collaborated with witnesses, says the facts are still enough to make your hair stand on end.
In an exclusive chat with The Sun just weeks before his death, he said: “Not least because 46 years after the event, the sightings remain unexplained.
“During my posting, I undertook a cold case review. I didn’t solve the mystery, but I focused on the radiation levels at the landing site.
“They were ‘significantly higher than the average background’ – and that’s a direct quote from a scientific intelligence report.
“I was concerned about this, as some witnesses got very close to the object and one touched it.”
Among the other compelling pieces of evidence Nick encountered was the Calvine Incident of August 1990.
The case involved two hikers in Scotland who captured six crystal-clear photographs of a large, diamond-shaped craft.
Nick recalls how after inheriting the investigation the photos were examined by top imagery analysts.
He and his team concluded “this is the real deal” and not a hoax.
Witnesses claimed to have spotted the huge metallic object hovering with a low hum for around ten minutes.
The incident also featured a military jet circling the UFO, possibly trying to intercept it or gather data.
One of the real photos was finally made public in 2022 – but the photographer has never come forward.
And Pope has previously said how one of the images was hanging in the office of the UFO desk – until they were forced to take it down.
The former MoD man told The Sun he believes aliens will one day come in peace.
He explained: “I’d rush over with a camera, and would try to get some good footage.
“But then I’d try to communicate, and maybe hitch a brief ride… I’d try to get a souvenir from my trip, so I’d have some scientific proof.
“I’d love aliens to be real, because let’s face it, the world would be more interesting with aliens than without them.”
Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/38742171/ufo-expert-dies-after-cancer-battle-wife-tribute/
