A Jeremy Kyle guest who died in a suspected suicide after failing a lie detector test had been sectioned and previously took four drug overdoses, an inquest as heard.
Steve Dymond, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is suspected to have taken his own life seven days after filming for the controversial programme in May 2019.
Kyle, 59, was accused of ‘throwing Mr Dymond under the bus’ and ‘egging on’ the audience on his show to boo at him after lie detector results concluded he was unfaithful to partner Jane Callaghan.
Today, Mr Dymond’s family doctor told the inquest in Winchester that the 63-year-old was ‘very depressed’ less than two months before he went on the ITV show.
But Dr Amjad Rehman said a ‘very aggressive’ Mr Dymond kicked open his door three days before filming and demanded that the GP write him a letter saying he was not depressed so he could appear on the show.
The inquest also heard the construction worker’s medical records show he had four previous suicide attempts by drug overdoses and had previously been sectioned and placed on suicide watch.
Mr Dymond saw appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show as a chance to prove to his partner that he had never cheated on her, the inquest heard
Jeremy Kyle (pictured) is expected to give evidence at the inquest
The court heard that Mr Dymond, an ex-RNLI volunteer from Portsmouth, visited Dr Rehman in March 14, 2019.
He had broken up with partner of two years Ms Callaghan, from Gosport, in February 2019.
Dr Rehman, based in Gosport, treated Mr Dymond as ‘actively suicidal’.
‘He came to see me because he was very much depressed,’ the doctor said.
‘He was very depressed for the last few weeks. He separated from his partner and told me he kept telling her lies about his past, constantly telling her lies. I remember he was very upset.’
Dr Rehman said Mr Dymond had ‘self-harm thoughts’.
‘He was picking his arm and he was very upset and felt like walking in front of a moving car’, Dr Rehman said.
‘He told me he intended to walk in front of a moving car so I referred him to the acute mental health team.’
The inquest heard Mr Dymond’s medical records showed he had overdosed in 1995, twice in 2002 and in 2005.
He was sectioned in 2005 and report from the time showed he was ‘hysterical’ and ‘at risk of suicide’.
After Dr Rehman saw Mr Dymond on March 14, 2019, Mr Dymond saw an acute mental health team and was eventually deemed to be at ‘low risk’ of suicide then placed under a community mental health team’s care.
In the following weeks, Mr Dymond and Ms Callaghan rekindled their relationship and jointly decided to go on The Jeremy Kyle show to take a lie detector test.
On Tuesday, Ms Callaghan said ITV told Mr Dymond he couldn’t appear on the show as he had been prescribed anti-depressants.
Today, it was heard that three days before Mr Dymond appeared on the show, on April 29, he had a hostile exchange with Dr Rehman as he tried to secure his spot on the programme.
Construction worker Steve Dymond, pictured, died in 2019 after appearing on the show. He’s seen with his fiancée, Jane Callaghan
An undated family photo of Mr Dymond
Dr Rehman said Mr Dymond kicked his door open at his surgery and was ‘very aggressive’ demanding that the doctor write him a letter to ITV saying he was not depressed.
Mr Dymond said it was a ‘matter of life and death’ that he had to appear on the show to prove to his fiancee that he was faithful.
Dr Rehman said: ‘He came to see me, he banged the door with his foot, he was very aggressive.
‘He was insisting that he should get a letter. I explained to him that he was depressed…
‘He said he was not depressed and denied it. He said he did not want to take the tablets and wanted to go on a TV show.
‘I said ‘you have a history of depression’. He was insisting and quite aggressive.
‘I said ‘I can’t give you a letter for the TV show’… it’s what he wanted me to write, I did not agree with it.
Dr Rehman said Mr Dymond told him he was no longer depressed because he had rekindled his relationship with Ms Callaghan.
‘He was unhappy and still insisting that he should get a letter, she [Ms Callaghan] was there’, Dr Rehman said.
‘I respect the patient’s opinion but I have the [medical] history and I told him he was depressed, I didn’t follow his instructions and wrote that he was feeling better and had not taken the medication.
‘He told me he wanted to prove something to his fiancee.’
On the daytime TV programme, Mr Dymond failed the lie detector test despite insisting he wasn’t a cheat
Dr Rehman wrote in his letter which Mr Dymond gave to ITV: ‘Mr Dymond has a history of low mood and depression but his mood has improved since he got back together with his partner.
‘I saw him for a review at the surgery today, his mood has improved and he has not taken any anti-depressant tablets at this time. I hope you will find this helpful.’
Dr Rehman maintained that the letter was ‘appropriate’ because it was a ‘factual letter’. He suggested that anyone reading the letter could ‘call the GP surgery and ask about the history’.
Neil Sheldon KC, representing Kyle, questioned Dr Rehman over why he did not include his full medical history in the letter.
On Tuesday Mr Dymond’s inquest heard there was a ‘potentially lethal’ amount of morphine in his system as well as left ventricular hypertrophy when he died on May 9, 2019.
The episode he filmed a week earlier, on May 2, has never been aired.
Ms Callaghan told the inquest he was ‘excited’ to go on the show to prove to her he didn’t have an affair and ‘thought he would pass’ lie detector.
Ms Callaghan, a fan of the show, said Mr Dymond and her had been on-off due to lies about his past and that they both wanted ‘closure’ over whether he cheated so they could move forward with their relationship.
Mr Dymond’s funeral in 2019
While filming, she said Kyle was ‘rude’ and ‘horrible’ to Mr Dymond, saying he ‘wouldn’t trust him with a chocolate button’, adding that Kyle told her Mr Dymond was a ‘waste of time’.
It was heard Kyle ‘egged on’ the crowd to ‘boo’ Mr Dymond, ‘jeered’ him, and that Mr Dymond had the lie detector results shoved in his face as he was branded a ‘traitor’.
Mr Dymond’s son, Carl Woolley, told the inquest his father was ‘very upset’ after the show and his brother, Leslie, said he was ‘completely broken’ and told him ‘he could not go on’.
Mr Dymond’s final message to Ms Callaghan, on May 6, said the Jeremy Kyle Show was ‘responsible for what happens now’ and that ‘I hope this makes good ratings for them’.
On May 13, four days after Mr Dymond’s death at his £100-a-week rented room, ITV abruptly pulled The Jeremy Kyle Show off air.
The hearing continues.