Magician Rod Hogg forced to cancel harbour stunt

Hogg had planned to escape from handcuffs inside a wooden box to be lowered into Portrush harbour from a crane on in front of bumper crowds on the May Day bank holiday.

But he was forced to cancel the stunt at the weekend.

“‘Red tape’ has won the day, after every possible avenue trying to find a way to allow my stunt to happen, was exhausted,” he said last night.

“I have invested, and sacrificed a huge part of my life to this.

“The past eight months have been spent in constant consultation with stunt specialists from all over the world, designing a spectacle, that would have been one of the most spectacular this wee country would have ever seen.

“The past seven months I have lived in the gym, training and preparing for a feat that ‘would’ have topped last year’s.”

Former window cleaner Hogg became a magician 12 years ago and has starred in his own TV show ‘The Irish Magician’ on Sky TV.

“To the thousands of you who would have turned out to watch and support, I am sorry,” he said.