A police officer investigating a “suspicious bright light” at a beauty spot was embarrassed – when it turned out to be the moon.

Unfortunately for the PC, he only realised his that the light was in fact moonlighting as the…moon, after warning colleagues he might need back-up.

The gaffe was reported in the latest edition of Police magazine.

The in-house magazine, published by the Police Federation to 132,000 rank-and-file officers across England and Wales, revealed the gaffe in its popular Dogberry column.

The columnist wrote: “While single-crewed on night duty in Worcestershire, a PC called up his sergeant letting him know that he was going up into the Clent Hills to investigate a ‘suspicious bright light’ that he could see shining from the other side of the hills.

“The call was for safety reasons as he might need back-up once he found the source.

“Twenty minutes later the PC called his sergeant back to reassure him that everything was ok and that he had found the source of the light.

“This diligent PC had in fact discovered the moon.”

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