An inquest into a man who killed himself a week after appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show has found “insufficient evidence” to rule that participating in the programme caused his death.
Steve Dymond, 63, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is thought to have ended his life seven days after filming for the ITV show in May 2019.
His death prompted the swift cancellation of the programme after 14 years on air and instigated a parliamentary inquiry into the broadcaster’s treatment of reality show contestants.
Unaired footage released last week showed a distraught Dymond facing boos from the audience after failing a lie detector test to determine whether he had cheated on his partner, Jane Callaghan. A senior producer on the show admitted the tests had an accuracy rate of between 60 and 96%.
Ruling out his treatment by The Jeremy Kyle Show as a contributory factor in his death, the Hampshire coroner, Jason Pegg, said: “There is insufficient evidence for me to be satisfied that this was the direct cause of Steve’s death,” adding there was “no causal link” between his appearance on the show and his death.
Pegg concluded Dymond’s death was suicide while he was suffering from mental distress at the belief that his relationship had “irretrievably broken down”.
He said: “The deceased’s decision to take his own life was made in the context of his mental distress that was probably exacerbated by his belief that a significant relationship had now irretrievably broken down following his participation on a television programme where it had been suggested that the deceased had lied to his partner.”
He added that Dymond had left notes for this family and said: “There is nothing in those notes where Mr Dymond is critical of his treatment by the show.”
Responding to the ruling, Jeremy Kyle said the case had “taken a huge toll on him and his family”. He said he had remained “silent in the face of lies, false accusations and unfair criticism over the last five and a half years”, adding that he wanted to “thank everyone who has truly supported him through these tough times”.
Dymond’s son, Carl Woolley, said the “only good thing” to have come from his father’s death was the axing of The Jeremy Kyle Show.
“In my view anyone watching the clips of the show would see that [Dymond] was in tears, and spoken to in the most brutal way by Jeremy Kyle,” he said in a statement read after the ruling.
ITV said the coroner’s findings confirmed the show had “comprehensive duty of care processes covering the selection of contributors who appeared on the show and their care both during and after filming”.
Kyle defended his “direct” but “empathetic” conduct on the show when he attended the week-long inquest. In the unreleased footage from the show, Kyle is heard telling Dymond: “Grow a pair of balls and tell her the goddamn truth.”
Pegg concluded there was “insufficient evidence” to conclude whether or not Dymond lied during his lie detector test. He said: “The lie detector test recorded that Steve had provided an untruthful response to all questions asked of him.
“There is insufficient evidence for me to be satisfied whether or not Steve had indeed lied during the lie detector test.”
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
