A SWORD swallower who impaled himself during a performance in Bradford three years ago is returning to the venue.

Helmut Kirchmeier had already swallowed a giant sword, a curved serpent sword and three other swords simultaneously when he swallowed a neon lit tube while performing with the Circus of Horrors at St George's Hall in October 2011.

A spokesman for the show told the Telegraph & Argus that the tube ripped a three centimetre hole in Mr Kirchmeier's oesophagus.

The accident took place in the second act, in front of a packed audience, and he managed to finish the show while struggling to breathe. He was then rushed to Bradford Royal Infirmary where he was treated in intensive care, and he spent a total of six weeks in the hospital.

Now Mr Kirchmeier, a former tax official from Munich, Germany, is returning to the scene of his near death experience to swallow a neon lit tube again.

A spokesman for the Circus of Horrors said: "Neon tubes are the most deadly of any implement swallowed by a sword swallower because they are encased in glass, are filled with poisonous gasses and are powered by electricity.

"If the glass shatters inside you either that, the poisonous gas or the electricity would kill you."

Mr Kirchmeier joined the Circus of Horrors in 1996. He covered his body in tattoos and has elongated ears, a forked tongue and what he claims is "40,000-year-old Mammoth ivory" transplanted into his mouth.

The Circus of Horrors reached the final of Britain's Got Talent in 2011.

The show started out at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival and went on to tour the world, performing with acts such as Alice Cooper, Eminem, Iron Maiden and Marilyn Manson.

The company is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a tour of new show The Night of the Zombie, set in a "decrepit London ruled by the undead", which climaxes with a spectacular "flaming apocalypse" and features sword swallowers, knife throwers, daredevil balancing acts and aerial acrobats, including a woman hanging by her hair.

The show comes to St George's Hall on Wednesday, November 26. Tickets are available on (01274) 432000.