The son of a man who took his life after appearing on the Jeremy Kyle show told an inquest that his father had been “very upset” after being “pounced on” when recording the programme.
Giving evidence at Winchester Coroner’s court, Carl Woolley said he phoned his father Stephen Dymond who told him that Jeremy Kyle had “egged on” the audience to “boo him” and that he was “cast as the liar.”
Dymond was there to take a lie detector test to prove he had not been cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan. He is thought to have taken his own life.
Opening proceedings, coroner Jason Pegg listed the interested parties, namely ITV, the family — which he said was “at the heart of this case” — and Jeremy Kyle.
Rachel Spearing, the barrister appointed as counsel to the inquest, outlined the scope of the inquest, telling the coroner: “You will be hearing evidence related to his [Stephen Dymond’s] participation in the show.”
She added that the inquest would look into the facts and circumstances surrounding aftercare offered and accepted by Dymond following the Jeremy Kyle Show.
Son of Steve Dymond told the coroner court that his ‘brave’ father was made to feel ‘an idiot’
Handout / PA
Spearing said that the inquest would be addressing any aspect of Dymond’s personal background or history that was not connected to his Mental Health.
She added that the general nature of reality TV production was also not in the scope of the inquest.
Spearing said that on the day of Dymond’s death, Thursday May 9, police attended an address in Portsmouth, in relation to an incident where a male had died in suspicious circumstances.
Paramedics were already on the scene, and they confirmed his death at 13:21.
There was a full post-mortem carried out on May 14, 2019. It confirmed that the toxicology samples – sent to forensic services – found morphine present together with Diphenhydramine, a sedating antihistamine.
The conclusions from the full post-mortem was that the results showed the presence of morphine at a “potentially lethal concentration.”
The court heard that the cause of death was given as morphine overdose combined with left ventricular hypertrophy.
A tribute was heard from Dymond’s brother Leslie Dymond, who said that he was a “dedicated” member of the RNLI and would never miss training.
The Jeremy Kyle Show was axed from ITV shortly after Dymond’s death
ITV
“It was not an easy job but he always turned up when he was called out.
“Whenever his pager went off, he would run all the way from our house to the shore.”
The written evidence detailed that Dymond was “so dedicated” to his role.
“I remember many times throughout the years he served that they were unable to return due to rough seas, so he stayed out overnight. It was a dangerous job, they were very brave men, and Stephen was one of them.”
Carl Woolley, his son, told the court that he had no awareness of his father’s mental health history and that they had an estranged relationship.
He said that they reconnected on the evening of the Jeremy Kyle show being recorded, when he was on his way home from the studios.
Woolley said he received a phone call from Leslie saying he was “very distraught” and having been on the show.
“He was in a taxi, with his partner, he was trying to talk to her as well as talking to me. He was very upset, not really making much sense, just very upset.
“He was saying that he’d been classed as a liar, but he said he wasn’t lying, he was totally telling the truth.
“He said this had made him very upset, saying that he was being called a liar, everyone had jumped on him, just not with it at all.”
He said Jeremy Kyle had ‘egged-on’ the crowd to boo at him and that Dymond was classed as the liar before he’d even spoken.
“He was upset, I could tell by the sound of his voice, and I believe there were tears. It sounded like he was crying.
“I tried to calm him down, console him, say that everything would be alright, go home and get some rest. He was so emotional that day.”
Woolley continued: “I spoke to him the day after, and many days after that, several times a day. Sometimes he appeared very good, but then very quickly deteriorated.”
He said that his father couldn’t understand how he’d been considered “guilty” through the lie detector test.
Spearing read portions of a note left by Steve Dymond to his son Carl.
Jeremy Kyle ‘called Dymond a serial liar and that he wouldn’t trust him with a chocolate button’, Charlie Peters heard in court today
GB News
She said: “In the bottom paragraph he says sorry to you, he asks you not to be mad with him and he knows that you will be but he doesn’t know what to say to you.
“He knows sorry isn’t enough and he says that: ‘I just don’t want to have to be here no more. My life feels empty without Jane. I just loved her so much’.”
Spearing continued: “He expresses pride in you and comments upon your skills as a dad.
“He says: ‘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’.”
Neil Sheldon KC, asking questions on behalf of Jeremy Kyle, asked if Woolley agreed that there was no reference to either Kyle or his appearance on the programme, which Woolley affirmed.
Sheldon added: “The reason that your father gives for what he’s done is his distress at splitting up with partner Jane … he doesn’t say anything about how he was treated on the show.”
Maya Sikand KC, the barrister for the family of Dymond, also questioned Woolley about his testimony and evidence provided in submissions.
She asked if it would be fair to say that when Woolley spoke with his father on May 2, that he discussed the impact on him from the Jeremy Kyle Show, to which Woolley confirmed they had.
Sikand then read out texts from Woolley summarising his phone calls with his father, where he had said he’d “been taken for a mug” and “pounced on” by presenter Jeremy Kyle.
She asked, “What did he expect going on a show like that?”, to which Woolley said: “He had not realised he would be made a mockery of.”
When asked to clarify further, Woolley said: “Everyone goes on there, for good TV, to be made an idiot of.”
He went on to say that on the evening after the programme was recorded, they had had a “fair few” phone calls, where Dymond was said to be “crying and speaking manically.”
“He told me he was ‘made out to be the baddie’,” said Woolley, adding: “Jeremy Kyle was constantly ‘on him’.”
He also described how Dymond felt that he had been “thrown under a bus.”
Woolley added: “From what he said to me, the crowd was booing.”