Jeremy Kyle guest had taken previous overdoses, inquest hears

A guest on The Jeremy Kyle Show who apparently took his own life shortly after appearing on the TV programme had a history of suicide attempts, an inquest has heard.

Steve Dymond, from Portsmouth, died seven days after filming for the ITV show May 2019.

The 63-year-old took a lie detector test for the show after being accused of cheating on his ex-partner, Jane Callaghan.

Mr Dymond had taken overdoses three times previously and had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder and a personality disorder, the inquest in Winchester was told.

Mr Dymond was found dead at his home in Grafton Street on 9 May 2019 from a morphine overdose and a heart problem, it has been heard.

Previously, the court was told he was distressed after being “booed” and “heckled” by the programme’s audience.

His former GP, Dr Amjad Rehman, who first met him in March 2019, said he was “very anxious and picking his arm”.

“He was very depressed for four weeks and was separated from his partner,” the doctor told the inquest.

“He told me he kept telling lies to her. He was constantly lying. That’s why he left home and was living in a bed and breakfast.”

Mr Dymond said he had been “contemplating walking in and out of traffic and feeling suicidal”, the inquest heard.

The GP said he made an urgent referral to a mental health team, which assessed Mr Dymond as a low suicide risk.

Previously, Mr Dymond had taken overdoses in 1995, 2002 and 2005 and had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act for his safety, the inquest heard.

The court heard the GP wrote an open letter which Mr Dymond requested in order to appear on TV.

Dr Rehman said: “I didn’t know what he was doing on the TV show.

“He said it was to prove something to his fiancee… It was a matter of life or death for him.”

The GP wrote that Mr Dymond had a “history of low mood and depression but his mood has improved since he got back together with his partner”, the inquest heard.

The letter added that he was not taking any medication.

Mr Kyle’s barrister Neil Sheldon KC raised the issue of the four previous overdoses and the fact that Mr Dymond had “actively contemplated suicide” six weeks before the letter was written.

He asked the GP: “You wrapped all that information up into a comment in the letter that he has a history of low mood and depression?”

Dr Rehman told the hearing the mental health team had not said that Mr Dymond was suicidal.

On Tuesday, Mr Dymond’s son Carl Woolley told the inquest his father felt he had been “cast as the liar” on the TV show.

He added his father “was very upset saying he was being called a liar, everyone had jumped on him, (he was) not with it at all”.

When asked by counsel to the inquest Rachel Spearing who had “jumped on him”, Mr 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.”

He told the inquest his father called him up to six times a day following the recording and was “very down”.

He said he tried to encourage him to continue getting aftercare support from ITV.

He said: “He told me he was getting support and aftercare from the show’s counsellors.

“I explained to him he needed to get in contact with them and keep ringing them to get the aftercare that he needed.”

The inquest heard extracts from a note, read by Ms Spearing, which Mr Dymond left for his son.

“I never ever cheated on Jane and that is what is tearing me to pieces and everyone thinks I am but I’m not a cheat. But I did tell her lies and I lied so much to Jane and that is why she didn’t believe me,” the note said.

Mr Dymond’s former partner Ms Callaghan told the court on Tuesday the pair had met through a dating site in May 2017 and were together for about two years.

She said the relationship ended as she had “just found out that he lied a lot about his past”.

She said it was Mr Dymond’s idea to go on the show to prove “he hadn’t cheated”.

After the test results came back inconclusive, he said it was because he had lied in the pre-show questions about his past.

Following the break-up, she said she received lots of voice calls and messages from Mr Dymond, adding he had been “very upset”.

The inquest heard in Mr Dymond’s last text message to Ms Callaghan, sent on 6 May 2019, he insisted he had “never, never ever” been unfaithful to her.

“I hope the Jeremy Kyle show is so happy now, as to what they have done to me,” he wrote.

“They are responsible for what happens now, I hope this makes good ratings for them.”

The inquest continues.

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