Judge gets ‘headache’ at Dirty Sanchez assault trial

A JUDGE yesterday said he was starting to get a headache after hearing details of the stunts performed on MTV show Dirty Sanchez.

Jurors at Norwich Crown Court were given an outline of presenters’ activities on the show during the trial of a man accused of assaulting presenter Matthew Pritchard. They heard that one stunt involved a presenter putting his penis in guitar strings while a colleague pulled a string.

And the judge, Recorder William Andreae-Jones QC, said: “I think I am getting one of my headaches.”

Mr Pritchard, who is in his late 30s and comes from Cardiff, told jurors he was “more or less a stuntman”.

“I do dreadful things for a laugh,” he said. “It’s four of us... We do stunts. Dreadful things. Anything which creates a laugh.”

Mr Pritchard told how he had been:

* Run over by a car.

* Shot with a rubber bullet — while wearing a protective vest.

* Dragged naked along three metres of grip tape — “it’s like sandpaper” — then had salt and vinegar put on his wounds by presenters.

* Had his hair set on fire then warded off other presenters with a large kitchen knife.

* Had fish hooks put in his ear then ripped out.

He said stunts were conducted under the guidance of health and safety officials.

And he said the show had been censured by a television watchdog.

Mark Smith is alleged to have slashed Mr Pritchard during a rumpus in a shop in Toftwood, Norfolk, in September 2009.

Smith, 42, of Toftwood, denies wounding and possessing an offensive weapon.