ONE of Britain's most highly rated spirit mediums is coming to Swindon.

Yorkshireman Stephen Holbrook, 36, says he was 14 when he had his first brush with the spirit world.

He remembers his grandfather entering his bedroom and saying goodbye hours before Stephen learned of his death. He says he is a clairaudient one who hears the voices of spirits rather than seeing them.

On September 7, he will appear at Swindon's Oasis Centre as part of a national tour. He said today: "Many people think of themselves as a physical body with a spirit inside, but really we are just spirits with outer shells.

"The shell deteriorates and can become ill, and I have no problem with the concept that it does.

"But the spirit lives on in a conscious form, and certain of us that are sensitive to the spirit world can reach out and connect with these souls."

The best friend of Jane McDonald, the singer whose career as a star was launched in the BBC's The Cruise, he says his abilities enabled him to predict her success.

His appearances at various venues throughout the country have earned him full houses and positive press coverage, and Stephen is even the subject of a biography The Light in the Darkness by James Christie.

Stephen insists that he prides himself on never "pumping" members of his audiences for information about lost loved ones, or being vague.

Such techniques, he says, are the mark of the charlatan in an industry where, he freely admits, there is money to be made.

He also rejects the idea that people such as him are mind readers rather than communers with spirits, and points out that he often says things that neither he nor anyone else could know, but which later prove true.

Stephen's two hour show at the Oasis starts at 7.30pm and costs £8.50. Book tickets on 01904 744500.