Jeremy Kyle ‘may have caused or contributed’ to death of his show’s guest, coroner says

Jeremy Kyle has been named an ‘interested person’ during the inquest into the death of one of the guests from his TV show.

Coroner Jason Pegg said the TV presenter ‘may have caused or contributed’ to Steve Dymond’s death at the pre-inquest review in Winchester.

Mr Dymond’s death led to The Jeremy Kyle Show being taken off air in 2019, after 14 years on ITV.

ITV

According to documents released by Mr Dymond’s family’s lawyers, he was ‘extremely distressed’ by his experience on the show.

The 63-year-old died of a morphine overdose and heart problem at home in Portsmouth, just seven days after he’d finished filming on the show, according to the pre-inquest review.

Mr Dymond took part in a lie detector test for the show, to find out if he’d cheated on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan.

ITV

Mr Dymond’s family’s counsel, Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, said: “The lie detector test ‘result’ indicated that he was lying when he said he was faithful to his girlfriend, despite him being adamant that he had been faithful.

“Mr Dymond was extremely distressed by his experience at The Jeremy Kyle Show, a programme which has been described by a judge (when sentencing a former contestant) as ‘human bear-baiting’.”

Detective Sergeant Marcus Mills told a previous inquest that Mr Dymond’s death was a suspected suicide.

The Jeremy Kyle Show was taken off air last year following scrutiny over the duty of care people were receiving after going on shows like that, after the deaths of Mr Dymond and former Love Island contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis.