A STONE family were left puzzled when they saw a “big bright light” fly across the sky on Saturday night.

Joyce Cox, 83 and her son David Cox, 51, of Vicarage Road, said they saw what was believed to have been a meteor from their home at about 9.40pm.

The fireball hit headlines as police forces across the country received calls from concerned residents. The Met Office tweeted “Hi all, for anyone seeing something in the night sky, we believe it was a meteorite".

A meteorite is a piece of rock or metal which has fallen to Earth from space.

Ms Cox said: “My son and I were looking out of my bedroom window and we saw it come right across the sky in front of us. It looked like it was breaking up right over Stone Manor.”

Mr Cox added: “We saw it coming from over Kidderminster. It was a big bright light and we thought it was a helicopter. I opened the window expecting to hear something but could not so I wondered if it was a jet.

“I got my binoculars out and there were pieces breaking off it. By the time I re-focused it was dimming, then it had gone. We saw the last 10 seconds of its life.

“It is impressive and it is something you are not going to see that often. I have seen the odd meteor shower but they were quite faint. This was really quite low and bright.”

Did you see the meteor? Leave a comment below or tweet us @ksshuttle.