A man who is suspected of killing himself after appearing as a guest on The Jeremy Kyle Show felt he was “thrown under a bus” by the ITV programme, his son told an inquest.
Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead at his flat in Portsmouth, Hampshire, seven days after filming for the ITV programme in May 2019.
Before he died, Dymond had claimed Kyle had encouraged the audience to boo him, leaving him “very upset” after the recording, according to a witness statement by his son Carl Woolley.
Woolley said he phoned his father, who told him that Kyle had “egged on” the audience to boo him, the opening day of the inquest into Dymond’s death at Winchester coroner’s court was told on Tuesday.
And in a final text message to his former partner whom he was accused of sexually betraying on the show, Dymond said the programme makers “are responsible for what happens now”.
In his statement, Woolley said: “He told me he was made out to be a baddie … and that no one had given him any chance to put his point across, and that Jeremy Kyle was constantly ‘on him’.”
He added: “I said to him at one point: ‘What did you expect going on a show like that?’ and he said to me that he hadn’t realised he would be made a mockery of.
“He said he felt he was thrown under a bus.”
Dymond had taken a lie detector test for the show after being accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, the inquest heard.
His final WhatsApp message sent to Callaghan on 6 May 2019 was read to the inquest. Dymond told her: “They are responsible for what happens now, I hope this makes good ratings for them, I bet they keep this quiet.
“Never did I cheat on you, never, never. My final words. I did try to explain to you, but you would not listen.”
Woolley’s statement said: “My father was crying as he told me he had been on The Jeremy Kyle Show and that he had been deemed a liar right from the start.”
Woolley said his father told him that the “lie detector had cast him as a liar; he said to me he wasn’t lying”.
“He said he had been taken for a mug and ‘pounced on’ by the presenter,” he added.
When asked by counsel to the inquest, Rachel Spearing, who had “jumped on him”, Woolley replied: “Jeremy Kyle had got the crowd to egg on, to boo at him and stuff, he was cast as the liar before he had even spoken.”
Woolley said his father had continued to be “very upset” in the following days and would call him up to six times a day.
He told the inquest that he tried to encourage his father to continue getting aftercare support from ITV.
He said: “He told me he was getting support and aftercare from the show’s counsellors. I explained to him he needed to get in contact with them and keep ringing them to get the after care that he needed.”
The inquest heard extracts from a note that Dymond left for his son.
Reading from the note, Spearing told the inquest: “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.’”
Coroner Jason Pegg told the hearing that the purpose of the inquest was not to “apportion civil or criminal liability” to any person involved.
The hearing is scheduled to continue until 10 September.
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 counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
