Funeral for man found dead in Portsmouth after Jeremy Kyle Show ‘won’t have many people’ says ex-fiancee

Portsmouth City Council has organised a funeral for 63-year-old Steve Dymond, who was found dead in his room at a flat in Grafton Street, Buckland, on May 9 – just a week after filming the show.

Detective Sergeant Marcus Mills, who attended the scene of the incident, told Portsmouth’s coroner court about a comment Steve made about 'taking all the morphine on the way home from the show' after failing a lie detector test.

A spokesman from Portsmouth City Council has confirmed that a community funeral will be held for Mr Dymond on Thursday, June 13, at Kingston Cemetery in St Mary’s Road.

The spokesman said: ‘We can confirm we’re making the arrangements for Mr Dymond’s funeral.

‘When someone dies in the city and no-one takes responsibility for a funeral, it’s the duty of the council to take this on.

‘We provide a dignified community funeral, with the help of a local funeral director and member of the clergy, paid for out of public funds.

‘If possible, we recover costs from the deceased’s estate.’

Mr Dymond’s former fiancee Jane Callaghan, from Gosport, says she will attend the funeral with her two daughters, to say her final goodbyes.

She said: ‘I’m going to go because I think I might regret it if I didn’t.

‘It’s been very difficult at the moment – I do think about him a lot and there are a lot of reminders of him at home.’

Jane says that she couldn’t afford to pay for the funeral, which is part of the reason why the council stepped in.

The Jeremy Kyle Show was suspended after Mr Dymond's death. Picture: ITV

‘I can’t pay for the funeral – but I don’t think he would have wanted me to anyway,’ she said.

‘I’m really quite confused by it all.

‘I don’t know how many people will be at the funeral; I would be surprised if there was a crowd but I do hope a few people turn up for him.

‘I would imagine there might be four or five other people.’

According to the Press Association’s calendar, the funeral will be held at 9.30am.

The news comes as Sky News reports that the House of Commons’ digital, culture, media and sport select committee will summon ITV’s chairman and chief executive, Sir Peter Bazalgette and Dame Carolyn McCall, for a meeting later this month.

Their meeting will form part of an inquiry that was launched just hours after The Jeremy Kyle Show was axed by ITV.