DAREDEVIL Jake the Juggler has been up to his old tricks again – but this time more than 400ft above a gaping canyon.

Jacob Hirsch-Holland, a circus performer from Shaw, took time out after his recent charity trip to Nicaragua to hang out, literally, in the Moab valley in Utah, USA – a haven for thrill-seekers.

The 25-year-old has been taking the sport to new extremes after hitting the headlines for his stunt over a decommissioned gas holder in Ferndale last year.

After several months teaching circus skills to orphans in Swindon’s twin town of Ocotal, in central America, Jake said he took a trip to Colorado and Utah to take in the huge landscapes.

He said: “It was amazing – you don’t really get the scale of cliffs and valleys they have over here.

“I was with some of the best highliners in the world and we were rigging up all sorts of lines across the canyons.

“We even had a net suspended between three slacklines, which has never been done before.

“I used to watch these guys on YouTube and it was a great experience to meet them. “Walking across the canyon was incredible, it was very high.”

Jake said the stunts were a change of pace from the charity work he had done with Performers Without Borders.

He said: “It felt a bit self-indulgent after going and working with the children because they had nothing.

“A lot of them had grown up on the street surrounded by problems, whether it was abuse or drugs. “It was great to be able to teach them and give them some fun.

“Kids need to play and they have had their childhood taken away from them and so to give something back to them that they deserve is amazing.

“At the end of each project they had to perform a display of what they’d learned over the month and that was great to see. “We also presented them with some equipment.”

Jake, who also highlined over the Brunel Shopping Centre, is now planning his next stunt in Swindon although he is staying tight-lipped as to exactly where it will be.

He said: “I’ve got something in the pipeline, a couple of ones floating around in Swindon. “None are confirmed yet so I cannot give anything away but it will be celebratory of Swindon’s more interesting architecture.”