The inquest into the death of a man who is believed to have died by suicide after appearing on the Jeremy Kyle show resumed on Tuesday. Winchester Coroner’s Court has heard that Steve Dymond, who appeared on the now-axed ITV show, died of an overdose of morphine and a heart problem.
Coroner Jason Pegg said the 63-year-old was found dead at his home in Grafton Street, Portsmouth, on May 9, 2019, a week after appearing on the show. He was there to take a lie detector test to prove he had not been cheating on his ex-fiancée Jane Callaghan.
Mr Dymond was reportedly worried about the repercussions of appearing on the programme, with Hampshire Police telling a previous inquest hearing that his death by morphine overdose was a suspected suicide.
Mr Pegg told the hearing: “At the heart of this inquest is the family of Steve Dymond.” He added that the purpose of the hearing was not to “apportion civil or criminal liability” to any person involved.
Mr Pegg has previously ruled that Talk TV host Jeremy Kyle had called Mr Dymond a “serial liar” and said he “would not trust him with a chocolate button”. The coroner made the Talk TV host an interested person to the inquest because “he may have caused or contributed” to Mr Dymond’s death.
Rachel Spearing, counsel to the inquest, told the court the proceedings will look into the events between March 14 and May 9, 2019, leading up to Steve Dymond’s death.
The inquest will hear evidence in relation to Mr Dymond’s interactions with his GP, assessment of his participation on The Jeremy Kyle Show and the aftercare provided after the programme, she said. She added that the inquest will hear about Mr Dymond’s “reaction to the lie detector test” which he took on the ITV show.
Rachel Spearing, counsel to the inquest, told the hearing a post-mortem examination found a “potentially fatal level” of morphine in Steve Dymond’s blood. It also found evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy in his heart.
Ms Spearing said: “The conclusion was that both left ventricular hypertrophy and morphine levels are independently capable of causing Mr Dymond’s death but in this case a combination of the two factors had led to his death.”
Dymond’s son, Carl Woolley, told the inquest his father had been “very upset” after the recording of The Jeremy Kyle Show. He said they had not been in recent contact before his uncle Leslie Dymond rang to say his father was “very down”.
Mr Woolley said he phoned his father who told him that Jeremy Kyle had “egged on” the audience to “boo him” and that he was “cast as the liar”. He said his father told him that the “lie detector had cast him as a liar, he said to me he wasn’t lying. He was telling the truth, he was not lying and telling the truth and asking why it said he had lied.”
He added that his father “was very upset saying he was being called a liar, everyone had jumped on him, (he was) not with it at all”. When asked by counsel to the inquest Rachel Spearing who had “jumped on him”, Mr Woolley replied: “Jeremy Kyle had got the crowd to egg on, to boo at him and stuff, he was cast as the liar before he had even spoken.”
The inquest heard extracts from a note which Steve Dymond left for his son. Counsel to the inquest Rachel Spearing said: “In the bottom paragraph he says sorry to you, he asks you not to be mad with him and he knows that you will be but he doesn’t know what to say to you.
“He knows sorry isn’t enough and he says that: ‘I just don’t want to have to be here no more. My life feels empty without Jane. I just loved her so much’.” Mr Dymond had taken a lie detector test for The Jeremy Kyle Show after being accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, from Gosport.
Ms Spearing continued: “He expresses pride in you and comments upon your skills as a dad. He says: ‘I never ever cheated on Jane and that is what is tearing me to pieces and everyone thinks I am but I’m not a cheat. But I did tell her lies and I lied so much to Jane and that is why she didn’t believe me’.”
Carl said his father had continued to be “very upset” in the following days and would call him up to six times a day. He told the inquest: “He was OK at some points but very down.” He added that he tried to encourage his father to continue getting after-care support from ITV.
He said: “He told me he was getting support and after care from the (Jeremy Kyle) Show’s counsellors, I explained to him he needed to get in contact with them and keep ringing them to get the after care that he needed. He told me had rang and I said he needed to get some help – ‘Ring the show, ring the show’.”
Mr Woolley said that the last time his father tried to make contact was a missed call on his phone.
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