A BREATHTAKING trick originally performed by the escapologist Harry Houdini will be recreated by a North-East illusionist next week.

Daniel Hunt will perform the Fires of Passion routine at his former school on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old regularly returns to Staindrop Comprehensive School, County Durham, to perform charity shows as part of the illusion duo Amethyst, with his girlfriend Sarah Norris.

In the finale to his show on Tuesday in the school yard, Daniel will be suspended from a 60ft crane by a burning rope, and will have to escape from a straitjacket before the rope breaks and he plunges on to a rack of steel spikes.

The show, which starts at 7pm, will raise money for the Butterwick Hospice at Bishop Auckland and the school's Nine Students Awards Scheme for Standard Assessment Tests.

The Amethyst duo will spend Monday working with students from the school in workshops