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Full inquest hearing to be held into death of Jeremy Kyle Show guest

Steve Dymond is suspected to have taken his own life seven days after filming for the ITV programme in May 2019.

Ben Mitchell
Tuesday 03 September 2024 07:13 BST
A three- year research project has been carried out with 89 bereaved people on their experiences of inquests (Alamy/PA)
A three- year research project has been carried out with 89 bereaved people on their experiences of inquests (Alamy/PA)

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The full inquest hearing into the death of Steve Dymond who died of an overdose after appearing on the Jeremy Kyle Show is set to begin on Tuesday.

Mr Dymond, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is suspected to have taken his own life seven days after filming for the ITV programme in May 2019.

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 Coronerā€™s Court.

Claire Overman, representing Mr Dymondā€™s brother, Leslie Dymond, and son, Carl Woolley, told a pre-inquest review that Leslie Dymond said that his brother had been ā€œincredibly stressedā€ and in tears and on the ā€œpoint of collapsingā€ after the recording.

Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg previously ruled that Jeremy Kyle had called Mr Dymond a ā€œserial liarā€ and said he ā€œwould not trust him with a chocolate buttonā€.

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

Rachel Spearing, counsel to the inquest

The coroner has said that the scope of the inquest would cover Mr Dymondā€™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 ā€œa roving inquiry into practices of reality televisionā€.

She said the inquest would primarily look at the circumstances of Mr Dymondā€™s life between March 14 2019 and May 9 2019.

Ms Spearing said: ā€œThe scope will review the deceasedā€™s interaction with his GP and his acceptance and participation in the Jeremy Kyle Show.

ā€œWe will be reviewing Mr Dymondā€™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.ā€

She added that Mr Dymondā€™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 Dymondā€™s death.

The coroner previously made Mr Kyle an interested person to the inquest because ā€œhe may have caused or contributedā€ to Mr Dymondā€™s death.

Other interested persons named during the hearing were members of Mr Dymondā€™s family, ITV and the deceasedā€™s GP.

The inquest is listed to last until September 10.

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