Clowns, lions and aliens - The bizarre questions that West Midlands Police have to answer are revealed

The force has released details of some of the more quirky subjects it has taken FOIs on.

And the answers are perhaps even more surprising - with onesie crime and sightings of big cats yielding genuine statistics from the force.

It publishes all FOI requests on its website, which are usually serious matters such as crime statistics or information about police officer conduct.

But occasionally it receives bizarre questions, such as: "Please, under the freedom of information act can you tell me how many alien abductions have been reported in the West Midlands over past three years, breaking it down for each area."

Since 2011 there have been a surprisingly high 23 alien-related reports, with Birmingham being the hub of 'extra-terrestrial activity' with nine 'abductions' or 'alien attacks' reported.

Onesie crime is on the rise, with an FOI on the amount of reported incidents in which the word oneside appears in the description occurring no fewer than four times in 2012 and 2013.

Two officers even made an off-duty arrest while dressed in onesies while on their way to a fancy dress party in Solihull.

Another bizarre request was for the amount of sightings of big cats between 2011 and 2014. The answer was three.

The response revealed there were three possible big cat sightings - including a possible lion on the loose in a Birmingham car park and a large panther-like cat crossing a road in Coventry.

It seems dating websites are causing crime, with 34 calls relating to dating sites received in the past five years.

There were also dozens of calls relating to ghosts, paranormal activity or UFOs, with several leading to arrests.

Another request about incidents where 'wedding' 'funeral' or 'wake' were mentioned revealed there were seven wedding-related arrests, while 11 people were arrested during funerals.

There were 14 arrests involving fancy-dress, including one person dressed as an elephant and two as police officers.

And clown-crime is on the up, with three clown-related incidents found on the force's logs.

Sadly one request resulted in no results.

A person asked for: "The number of times in the last three years police have been called reports of crime at Father Christmas's/Santa's grotto-type attractions?

The force said: "We're pleased to report that there were no reports of 'Bad Santas' or parents battling over gifts in any of the grottos set up here in the West Midlands."