Jeremy Kyle expected to appear at inquest into death of TV show guest

Jeremy Kyle is expected to give evidence at an inquest into the death of a man who died after appearing on his TV show.

Steve Dymond, 63, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is believed to have killed himself seven days after filming for the Jeremy Kyle Show in May 2019.

He had taken a lie detector test for the programme after being accused of cheating on his partner, Jane Callaghan, from Gosport, Hampshire.

Winchester Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Dymond died at his home from a combination of morphine overdose and left ventricular hypertrophy in his heart.

Mr Kyle is expected to appear at the same court on Thursday to give evidence to the inquest.

Mr Dymond had rung 40 to 50 times in “desperate” attempts to become a guest on the ITV show, the inquest previously heard.

He had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder in 1995 and he had taken overdoses on four occasions – in January 1995, twice in December 2002 and in April 2005, the inquest heard.

The court was told he had also attempted to cut his wrists in December 2002.

Chris Wissun, director of content compliance at ITV at the time, told the hearing that Mr Dymond had been rejected on his first application to the show because he had disclosed that he had been diagnosed with depression and prescribed anti-depressants.

He said that a producer had created a draft headline for Mr Dymond’s first application on April 9 which read “Missing viagra and lies about being in the navy, are you a cheat?”.

Mr Wissun said that the subsequent letter from Mr Dymond’s GP, requested to support a second application, was a “very unusual circumstance”.

He said: “We were told that was very unusual, the fact that Mr Dymond, having been turned down the first time, he reapplied to the show having gained a GP letter.

“We were told that was a very unusual circumstance, one of the aftercare team hadn’t seen a guest present a GP letter to try to support their taking part before.

“There was no established process on how to treat a GP letter, in Mr Dymond’s case it was taken on face value.”

He added that Mr Dymond had been given a one-to-one assessment despite the receipt of the GP’s letter.

Mr Wissun said that the lie detector test was not offered to anyone currently diagnosed with depression and added: “The lie detector test was a feature of the show which had been used by the show throughout its run.

“Quite a lot of potential guests applied to come on the show specifically to take a lie detector as Mr Dymond did.”

Mr Wissun said the show recognised “early on” the need to provide aftercare services which he said was expanded to provide support by the welfare team to guests “at all stages of recording”.

He added: “The show didn’t target unstable people, part of the process was only people who were able to take part and competent in mental health terms to take part should do so.

“It’s true the show sought people to take part who had an issue or a problem, that was the central purpose of the show to try and discuss and hopefully resolve the problems.”

Mr Wissun also told the inquest that the potential vulnerability of guests was “recognised by the fact that the show had its own bespoke aftercare team”.

“Not all programmes, in fact very few programmes, had its own team of medically trained welfare people,” he added.

Mr Wissun said he was told the audience was not directed to be “hostile or derisory” towards guests.

He said: “We were told that the audience was not being deliberately directed to be hostile or derisory towards guests, they were there to watch what happened and watch what was said and their responses were a natural reaction of a group of people listening to the same story.

“In this particular episode I think at one point Jeremy does turn to the audience and asks for a straw poll of who believes Mr Dymond.”

Mr Wissun said he was told Mr Kyle was “very receptive” to advice from the aftercare team about whether he needed to adapt or soften his presenting style for particular guests.

He said it was a “very important” part of guest welfare processes that guests were giving “informed consent” to take part and that they “understood the nature of the format and also the style of the presenter”.

– The Samaritans can be contacted on 116123 or email jo@samaritans.org.

Published: 05/09/2024 by Radio NewsHub