Jeremy Kyle arrives at Steve Dymond inquest to speak about guest’s death for very first time

Jeremy Kyle has arrived at court to give evidence at an inquest into the death of Steve Dymond who died after appearing on his ITV show.

Dymond, 63, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is believed to have died by suicide 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.

Kyle, 59, was seen looking sombre as he entered Winchester Coroner’s Court this morning on the third day of the hearing to speak about Dymond’s death for the first time.

On Tuesday, the court heard Dymond told his son, Carl Woolley, that Kyle had ‘egged on’ the audience to ‘boo him.’

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 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.’

Asked by counsel to the inquest Rachel Spearing who had ‘jumped on him’, 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.’

Representatives for Kyle said he denies asking the crowd to boo Dymond.

During the inquest, the court heard out Dymond’s final text message to Callaghan in which he said the Jeremy Kyle show was ‘responsible’ for his death.

On May 6 2019,  Dymond sent a WhatsApp to Callaghan saying: ‘This will be the last time I say it, I was never, never ever unfaithful to you, in all the time we were together.

‘I hope The Jeremy Kyle Show is so happy now, as to what they have done to me.

‘I did lie about my past, but not about me being a cheat, I never ever did cheat on you.

‘They are responsible for what happens now, I hope this makes good ratings for them, I bet they keep this quiet.

‘Never did I cheat on you, never, never. My final words. I did try to explain to you, but you would not listen.’

Yesterday Dymond’s GP Dr Amjad Rehman, who works at the Rowner Health Centre in Gosport, Hampshire, gave evidence.

Dr Rehman said Dymond had attended a doctor’s appointment in March 2019 before his appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show because he was ‘very much depressed’.

The following month, the doctor said Dymond attended another appointment with his partner and ‘insisted’ the GP wrote a letter stating he was no longer depressed or taking mental health medication so he could appear on the Jeremy Kyle Show.

Dr Rehman said Dymond ‘banged’ open his door with his foot and ‘aggressively’ asked for the letter ‘as a matter of life or death.’

The GP said that Dymond’s mood and appearance had improved and agreed to write a letter reflecting this, but declined to say that he was not suffering from depression.

Kyle was previously named a ‘person of interest’ by Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg at the pre-inquest review in 2020.

Pegg explained at the time: ‘This means really, on the face of the papers, that potentially an act or omission on behalf of Jeremy Kyle may have caused or contributed to the death of Steve Dymond.’

The coroner also said that Dymond looked ‘visibly upset’ after learning the results of the lie detector test.

He continued: ‘Jeremy Kyle adopted an approach where he called the deceased a “serial liar”, that he “would not trust him with a chocolate button”; and made a comment: “Has anyone got a shovel?”’

The Jeremy Kyle Show was axed by ITV in May 2019 after Dymond’s death. It was on air for 14 years.