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Jeremy Kyle could be called up to attend the inquest of a guest who is believed to have died by suicide after appearing on his now axed ITV show.
The body of 63-year-old Steve Dymond was discovered at his Portsmouth home on 9 May 2019, a week after appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show. He was there to take a lie detector test to prove he had not been cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, from Gosport. He is thought to have taken his own life.
Mr Dymond was reportedly worried about the repercussions of appearing on the programme, with Hampshire Police telling a previous inquest hearing that his death by morphine overdose was a suspected suicide.
Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg has previously ruled that Mr Kyle had called Mr Dymond a “serial liar” and said he “would not trust him with a chocolate button”.
The coroner made the Talk TV host an interested person to the inquest because “he may have caused or contributed” to Mr Dymond’s death.
Other interested persons named during the hearing were members of Mr Dymond’s family, ITV and Mr Dymond’s GP.
Mr Pegg said that the full inquest would be held from Tuesday until 9 September and it is understood that Mr Kyle is expected to attend the court to give evidence at the full hearing.
Rachel Spearing, who has been appointed as counsel to the inquest, said that the coroner had ruled that the case would not be “a roving inquiry into practices of reality television”.
She said that the inquest would primarily look at the circumstances of Mr Dymond’s life between 14 March 2019 and 9 May 2019.
Ms Spearing said: “The scope will review the deceased’s interaction with his GP and his acceptance and participation in The Jeremy Kyle Show.
“We will be reviewing Mr Dymond’s participation in the show as far as it is relevant to his mental state including the lie detector and the aftercare provided and that involves the role of the production company and ITV.”
She added that Mr Dymond’s history of mental health issues would also be examined.
Ms Spearing added that the inquest had been given access to footage from a Channel 4 documentary into Mr Dymond’s death.
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