Jeremy Kyle ‘egged crowd on to boo Steve Dymond' as he called son for help

A guest on Jeremy Kyle's show spoke of the presenter egging on the audience to "boo him" and was "very upset" after the show's recording, his son told an inquest into his death on Tuesday.

Steve Dymond, 63, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is suspected to have taken his own life seven days after filming for the Jeremy Kyle Show in May 2019.

He had taken a lie detector test for the ITV show after being accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee, Jane Callaghan.

The inquest at Winchester Coroner's Court was told he died at his home in Portsmouth of a combination of an overdose and heart problem.

Mr Dymond's son, Carl Woolley, told the inquest that on the day of the filming, he received a call from his uncle, Leslie Dymond, to say his father was "very down".

Mr Woolley said he phoned his father who told him that Jeremy Kyle had "egged on" the audience to "boo him".

He said Mr Dymond told him that the "lie detector had cast him as a liar, he said to me he wasn't lying. He was telling the truth, he was not lying ... and asking why it said he had lied".

He added that his father "was very upset, saying he was being called a liar, everyone had jumped on him, [he was] not with it at all".

Mr Woolley continued in his statement: "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. He said he had been 'taken for a mug' and 'pounced on' by the presenter.

"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 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 said he felt he 'was thrown under a bus'."

Mr 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: "He was okay at some points but very down."

He added that he tried to encourage Mr Dymond to continue getting after-care support from ITV.

He said: "He told me he was getting support and after-care 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.

"He told me he had rang and I said he needed to get some help - 'ring the show, ring the show'."

Mr Woolley said that the last time his father tried to make contact was a missed call on his phone.

Earlier on Tuesday, the inquest was told a "pen portrait" of Mr Dymond written by his brother, Leslie Dymond, in which he described him as a "brave" man.

In the pen portrait, read aloud by counsel at the coroner's court, Leslie told of how his brother joined the RNLI when he was young. "Steve was dedicated to the RNLI. He would never miss training," he said.

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 inquest continues.

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