Human cannonball breaks legs as stunt misfires

Britain's last human cannonball has smashed both ankles in a 50 mile-an-hour crash in front of a horrified circus audience.

It happened at the Peterborough-based Mr Fip's Wonder Circus which is currently on tour in King's Lynn in Norfolk.

Stuntman Shane Beare says that as soon as his ankles are fixed he'll be back flying through the air.

Click below to watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Natalie Gray

He's a daredevil with two smashed ankles after a stunt he had performed 160 times before went horribly wrong.

Shane Beare is thought to be the country's last working human cannonball.

On Saturday he shot through the air as normal but missed his crash mat and slammed into the ground.

There was a huge cheer when Shane still managed to bow even though he almost collapsed with the pain shortly afterwards.

Shane has been performing with the Peterborough-based Mr Fips Wonder Circus for three years.

The other artists are all his friends and they watched in horror as they saw him land so badly.

The first human cannonball was a 14 year old girl called Zazel who performed in 1877 at the Royal Aquarium in London but her career was cut short when she broke her back.

Since then 30 other human cannonballs have been killed performing this stunt.

Undeterred Shane, who's mother was a circus trapeze artist, is determined to be back doing what he loves as soon as his legs are better.

Shane is in hospital for an operation on one of his legs on Friday. But one day he hopes to be well enough to beat the world record of 193 feet set in 2011 by an American human cannonballer known as The Bullet.

In the meantime Shane says he's happy to sell tickets and popcorn.