Tragic Steve Dymond's fiancée has had her tattoo of Jeremy Kyle's signature covered on her arm with a floral tribute to the man she lost. Back in 2019, Jane Callaghan appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show with her partner Steve so that he could take a lie detector test to prove that he hadn't cheated on her.
A week after failing the test, Steve was found dead at his home in Portsmouth. At the time, grandmother-of-five Jane didn't blame the show for Dymond's death, even having a Jeremy Kyle tattoo inked in support of the talk show host, whose show was pulled from the air in the fall-out from the tragedy.
However, after a recent documentary broadcast claims about alleged manipulative tactics behind the scenes, Jane, 52, feels differently about the Jeremy Kyle Show. Saying she feels 'used and humiliated' by the cancelled daytime TV show, Jane has now had her tattoo covered up with a touching floral tribute to Steve.
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Her new ink includes the lyrics 'only love can hurt like this', from the moving Paloma Faith ballad Steve used to play for her. Speaking with the Mirror , Jane said she had her original tattoo done around three or four months after Steve took the failed lie detector test.
Many people couldn't understand why she did it, but, at this point, Jane didn't blame the show, which she had long enjoyed watching, for Steve's death. Producers who came to visit her house in Portsmouth appeared to be, in her words, 'really good' to her.
However, after the Channel 4 documentary Jeremy Kyle: Death on Daytime aired in March, Jane, who is unemployed, says she was left feeling 'used', hating herself for having been 'sucked in by them'.
One anonymous former Jeremy Kyle staff member, who appears in the show, said: "Jane has this bizarre connection with the producers that went down to Portsmouth. I think she has this weird connection with them, and that she owes them something. She thinks they're like her friends."
Jane says this conclusion 'hit home' for her. "One time, after the documentary, I tried to sandpaper the tattoo off," she said. "I felt it was dirty. Because I did like Jeremy Kyle. I liked his show and everything.
"But I thought it was all just put on for the cameras, but it wasn't. I get anxiety, and I get depressed when I see him, and the tattoo just made me feel as though I had poison in my arm. So I waited until I got paid, and I literally went skint to get this tattoo covered over."
She knows all too well that the old tattoo is still there underneath, and would have liked to have had it lasered off completely if she could afford it. However, Jane still loves her new body art. "I'm really happy with the result from the tattooist, she was absolutely brilliant. I was quite emotional that day," Jane said.
After the documentary aired, Jane ended up receiving cruel abuse, with some people attacking her for having the original tattoo done in the first place. It left Jane feeling depressed and not wanting to go out, fearing she's 'known as the one off The Jeremy Kyle Show '.
Jane went on: "As far as I'm concerned, [ The Jeremy Kyle Show ] did contribute towards his death. Because I found out in the documentary that the lie detector wasn't 99.9%.
"It was actually 50-60%, and not a chance in hell would me and Steve have gone onto that show if I knew that. Now I believe that Steve was telling the truth."
"I miss him so much. I really do miss him," she added. "There's not a day that goes by where I don't think of him. I'm always posting on his wall. All the time. Christmas, birthdays, his anniversary. Songs that remind me of him".
An inquest into Steve Dymond's death was postponed on compassionate grounds in March, after the coroner learned of the death of Mr Dymond's mother.
An ITV spokesperson told the Mirror : "Our sympathies are with Mr Dymond’s family and friends. In light of the forthcoming Coroner’s inquest, it would not be appropriate for ITV to comment".
Jeremy Kyle's representative was approached for comment.
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