Never-before-seen footage of a Jeremy Kyle Show guest who died days after appearing on the programme has been played at an inquest into his death.
Steve Dymond, 63, is believed to have killed himself seven days after filming for the 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.
And, today at Winchester Coroner’s Court, the moment he took the test was shown.
In the clip, the polygraph examiner breaks down how the test will work, and his role in the matter – while the 63-year-old sits and listens.
Never-before-seen footage of Steve Dymond, 63, has been shown at the inquest into his death
Jeremy Kyle was seen arriving this morning at Winchester Coroner’s Court an inquest into Mr Dymond’s death
The 63-year-old is believed to have killed himself seven days after appearing on the programme in 2019
Kyle is set to give evidence at the inquest today
Mr Dymond asks the man, who was contracted by ITV to carry out the procedure, whether the test is ‘99.9% accurate’.
The examiner then tells him ‘They are 95% accurate’ with a ‘narrow risk of error’.
The polygraph expert also tells Mr Dymond that ‘if you fail one question, you fail the lot’.
The clips also show Mr Dymond watching a video informing him about the test which advises the participant to be ‘truthful, open and honest’.
Chris Wissun, director of content compliance at ITV at the time, returned to the witness box this morning.
He explained that the test was a ‘very well-established editorial feature of the programme’.
Mr Wissun said: ‘The result of the test would be given by the polygraph examiner to the producer.
‘The producer wouldn’t reveal the results to the presenter, the results would be given to him during the programme.
Mr Dymond died in May 2019 – seven days after appearing on the Jeremy Kyle show
The 63-year-old went on the show to try to prove he wasn’t cheating on fiancée Jane Callaghan (pictured)
My Dymond failed his lie detector test on the programme
WhatsApp messages between producers about Mr Dymond were heard in court today
‘He would open the envelope and reveal the results and tell the guests what the results were.
‘There was an element of drama in that moment.’
It comes as Winchester Coroner’s Court today heard how one member of the programme’s team joked in a private chat group that Mr Dymond ‘had tears in his eyes twice lol x’.
It was also heard how the 63-year-old sobbed continuously when filming finished and was allowed to leave the studio after telling a producer ‘I wish I was dead’.
The inquest was told how members of the show’s production team had a WhatsApp group to discuss guests in the lead up to, and after, filming episodes.
One message from a producer on May 2, 2019, read: ‘Could you pop and see Mr Dymond, who wants to meet you.
‘Could be emotional – he’s had tears in his eyes twice lol x.’
The message was said to have been sent around 10.20am, which is understood to be before the episode was filmed.
Another text was read from after the filming of the episode, which said: ‘Just so you know, he’s still crying.
‘I think it’s still being in this room going around in circles.
‘He just said “I wish I was dead” – just a heads up.’
Mr Wissun told the hearing Mr Dymond was ‘continuously’ talking to members of the production team and the after care nurses from the time the filming finished at around 12.45pm to when he left the studio at 2.30pm
He said: ‘I believe the researcher says guests would often make comments like that in the heat of the moment soon after the recording.
‘But they would calm themselves or be calmed and that wouldn’t necessarily be how they felt when they left the studios.
‘By the time Mr Dymond left the studio no one felt there was any sense of crisis.
‘Obviously he was upset about the lie detector test but the production team understood he was going home and could speak to his partner and the production team spoke to him the next day to see how he was.’
The court this week heard that the 63-year-old died at his home from a combination of morphine overdose and left ventricular hypertrophy in his heart.
He had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder in 1995 and he had taken overdoses on four occasions – in January 1995, twice in December 2002 and in April 2005, the inquest heard.
The court was told he had also attempted to cut his wrists in December 2002. Mr Wissun previously told the hearing that Mr Dymond had been rejected on his first application to the show because he had disclosed that he had been diagnosed with depression and prescribed anti-depressants.
He said that a producer had created a draft headline for Mr Dymond’s first application on April 9 which read ‘Missing viagra and lies about being in the navy, are you a cheat?’
Mr Wissun said that the subsequent letter from Mr Dymond’s GP, requested to support a second application, was a ‘very unusual circumstance’.
The former director continued: ‘We were told that was very unusual, the fact that Mr Dymond, having been turned down the first time, he reapplied to the show having gained a GP letter.
‘We were told that was a very unusual circumstance, one of the aftercare team hadn’t seen a guest present a GP letter to try to support their taking part before.
‘There was no established process on how to treat a GP letter, in Mr Dymond’s case it was taken on face value.’
He added that Mr Dymond had been given a one-to-one assessment despite the receipt of the GP’s letter.
Mr Wissun said that the lie detector test was not offered to anyone currently diagnosed with depression.
He added: ‘The lie detector test was a feature of the show which had been used by the show throughout its run.
‘Quite a lot of potential guests applied to come on the show specifically to take a lie detector as Mr Dymond did.’
Mr Wissun said the show recognised ‘early on’ the need to provide aftercare services which he said was expanded to provide support by the welfare team to guests ‘at all stages of recording’.
He added: ‘The show didn’t target unstable people, part of the process was only people who were able to take part and competent in mental health terms to take part should do so.
‘It’s true the show sought people to take part who had an issue or a problem, that was the central purpose of the show to try and discuss and hopefully resolve the problems.’
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