"Hamster Man" has to halt Irish Sea walk attempt (From This Is Wiltshire)

Bromham engineer Chris Todd had to halt his attempt to walk across the Irish Sea on a giant hamster wheel after encountering technical problems on Sunday.

Mr Todd, 35, is raising money for Wiltshire Blind Association and the RNLI with his extraordinary challenge and set off from Treaddur Bay, near Holyhead, Wales, at around 1.30pm on Sunday on the 66-mile trip over the Irish Sea to Greystones, near Dublin.

But nine hours into his record attempt he was forced to give up the trip after problems arose with the rudders on the wheel, which he designed and built himself.

Annie Davis of Wiltshire Blind Association said: "It's a great shame he had to give up as the sea was like a millpond and who knows when he will have another window in the weather.

"But the upside is that he got much further in those nine hours than he anticipated, so he is determined to try again later this month."