A JUDGE has slammed the Jeremy Kyle TV show, calling it `human bear-baiting'.

District Judge Alan Berg was sentencing a man who, at the recording of the show, headbutted a lodger after he had an affair with his wife.

He told David Staniforth that producers of the show deserved to be in the dock with him as they had provoked the attack, which took place at Granada Studios in Manchester.

Referring to the show as `trash', Judge Berg said he recognised Staniforth, 45, would not have committed the offence if it wasn't for the persistence of producers and researchers who contacted him six times to try to persuade him to appear.

Staniforth - who had been married 26 years - had refused each time, Manchester magistrates' court was told.

But, he told the court, staff from the show falsely claimed his wife was considering reconciliation and his daughter threatened to withdraw contact with his grandchild if he did not.

Judge Berg said the exceptional case did not warrant a community punishment, but instead ordered him to pay a £300 fine and costs.

He said: "It seems to me that the purpose of this show is to effect a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people whose lives are in turmoil, often in some perceived or actual dispute with each other for the purposes of titillating bored members of the public who have nothing better to do in the morning than watch trash TV.

"It is less a show than a form of human bear-baiting - that is how I see it - which goes under the guise of entertainment. It should not surprise anyone that these people, some of whom have limited intellects, become aggressive with each other.

"This type of incident is exactly what the producers want."

He said he did not condone violence in any way but said he recognised that the offence would not have taken place if it wasn't for the show.

At a previous hearing Staniforth, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, admitted assaulting Larry Mahoney who lived with the couple as a lodger but later set up home with Staniforth's wife Jennifer, 42.

He said he had set out to keep his feelings under control but said the presenter of the show had `wound him up' by calling him `Davey boy'.

A spokesman for ITV said: "It is made clear to all guests prior to going into the studio that no violence is ever tolerated.

"We do not share the district judge's opinion of the viewing public and the people who choose to take part in our programme."