Inquest hearing into Portsmouth man's death following Jeremy Kyle Show appearance to be heard today

Steve Dymond, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is suspected to have taken his own life seven days after filming for the ITV programme, the Jeremy Kyle Show, in May 2019. The full inquest hearing is set to take place in Winchester today (September 3).

On the show, he had taken a lie detector test for the show after being accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, from Gosport.

Mr Dymond died of an overdose and heart problem at his home in Portsmouth, a previous preliminary hearing of the inquest was told in 2020. The resumption of the inquest is to take place at Winchester Coroner’s Court.

Claire Overman, representing Mr Dymond’s brother, Leslie Dymond, and son, Carl Woolley, told a pre-inquest review that Leslie Dymond said that his brother had been “incredibly stressed” and in tears and on the “point of collapsing” after the recording.

Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg previously ruled that Jeremy Kyle had called Mr Dymond a “serial liar” and said he “would not trust him with a chocolate button”. The coroner has said that the scope of the inquest would cover Mr Dymond’s involvement with the ITV show and also his personal relationships.

Rachel Spearing, who has been appointed as counsel to the inquest, told a pre-inquest review in April that the coroner had ruled that the case would not be “a roving inquiry into practices of reality television”.

She said the inquest would primarily look at the circumstances of Mr Dymond’s life between March 14, 2019 and May 9, 2019.

Ms Spearing said: “The scope will review the deceased’s interaction with his GP and his acceptance and participation in the Jeremy Kyle Show. We will be reviewing Mr Dymond’s participation in the show as far as it is relevant to his mental state including the lie detector and the aftercare provided and that involves the role of the production company and ITV.”

She added that Mr Dymond’s history of mental health issues would also be examined.

Ms Spearing added that the inquest had been given access to footage from a Channel 4 documentary into Mr Dymond’s death.

The coroner previously made Mr Kyle an interested person to the inquest because “he may have caused or contributed” to Mr Dymond’s death.

Other interested persons named during the hearing were members of Mr Dymond’s family, ITV and the deceased’s GP.

The inquest is listed to last until September 10.