Steve Dymond ‘rang 40 to 50 times in bid to become guest on Jeremy Kyle Show’

Steve Dymond had rung 40 to 50 times in “desperate” attempts to become a guest on The Jeremy Kyle Show, an inquest into his death has heard.

The 63-year-old, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, is believed to have killed himself seven days after filming for the ITV show in May 2019.

He had taken a lie detector test for the programme after being accused of cheating on his partner, Jane Callaghan, from Gosport, Hampshire.

Winchester Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Dymond died at his home from a combination of morphine overdose and left ventricular hypertrophy in his heart.

The inquest heard that he had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder in 1995 and he had taken overdoses on four occasions – in January 1995, twice in December 2002 and in April 2005.

The court was told he had also attempted to cut his wrists in December 2002.

He was also sectioned on September 22 2005, and a mental health assessment found he was at “risk of suicide”.

And in March 2019, he was seen by his GP Dr Amjad Rehman, at the Rowner Health Centre in Gosport, who referred him “urgently” to the acute mental health care team as he had been having “suicidal thoughts” after splitting from Ms Callaghan.

Dr Rehman said Mr Dymond’s case was referred back to the community health team under his supervision, because he was deemed to be of “low risk of suicide” and had been experiencing a “reactive episode” to his relationship breakdown.

The inquest heard that Mr Dymond went into the surgery on April 9 and spoke to a staff member who recorded in notes that he was “desperate for a letter to take to the show”.

After telling him there was no GP available to speak to, the member of staff recorded: “He grabbed my hand and begged me to go and ask.”

He was “not pleased” when a doctor’s reluctance to write a letter was relayed to him, the inquest heard.

The court was also told that Mr Dymond saw a nurse practitioner on April 10, when he asked for a letter to say he was not depressed or taking anti-depressants so that he could go on a television show to take a lie detector test.

He had handed back the anti-depressants unused, but the nurse refused to write the letter.

Dr Rehman said Mr Dymond then attended his surgery on April 29, “banged” open his door with his foot and “aggressively” asked for the letter “as a matter of life or death”.

The GP said Mr Dymond’s mood and appearance had improved and agreed to write a letter reflecting this, but declined to say that he was not suffering from depression.

The letter read to the inquest said: “I write to confirm that Mr Dymond is registered with this practice.

“Mr Dymond has a history of low mood and depression but his mood has improved since he got back together with his partner.

“I saw him for review at the surgery today and his mood has improved and he is not taking any anti-depressants at this time. I hope you will find this information helpful.”

Dr Rehman said he knew Mr Dymond wanted to go on a TV show but did not ask for further details.

Rachel Spearing, counsel to the inquest (CTI), told the hearing that Mr Dymond had rung the show “40 to 50 times” as he was “absolutely desperate to be on the show”.

Chris Wissun, director of content compliance at ITV at the time, told the hearing that Mr Dymond had been rejected on his first application to the show because he had disclosed that he had been diagnosed with depression and prescribed anti-depressants.

He said that a producer had created a draft headline for Mr Dymond’s first application on April 9 which read “Missing viagra and lies about being in the navy, are you a cheat?”

Mr Wissun said that the subsequent letter from Mr Dymond’s GP, requested to support a second application, was a “very unusual circumstance”.

He said: “We were told that was very unusual, the fact that Mr Dymond, having been turned down the first time, he reapplied to the show having gained a GP letter.

“We were told that was a very unusual circumstance, one of the aftercare team hadn’t seen a guest present a GP letter to try to support their taking part before.

“There was no established process on how to treat a GP letter, in Mr Dymond’s case it was taken on face value.”

He added that Mr Dymond had been given a one-to-one assessment despite the receipt of the GP’s letter.

Mr Wissun said that the lie detector test was not offered to anyone currently diagnosed with depression and added: “The lie detector test was a feature of the show which had been used by the show throughout its run.

“Quite a lot of potential guests applied to come on the show specifically to take a lie detector as Mr Dymond did.”

Mr Wissun said the show recognised “early on” the need to provide aftercare services which he said was expanded to provide support by the welfare team to guests “at all stages of recording”.

He added: “The show didn’t target unstable people, part of the process was only people who were able to take part and competent in mental health terms to take part should do so.

“It’s true the show sought people to take part who had an issue or a problem, that was the central purpose of the show to try and discuss and hopefully resolve the problems.”

Mr Wissun also told the inquest that the potential vulnerability of guests was “recognised by the fact that the show had its own bespoke aftercare team”.

“Not all programmes, in fact very few programmes, had its own team of medically trained welfare people,” he added.

Mr Wissun said he was told the audience was not directed to be “hostile or derisory” towards guests.

He said: “We were told that the audience was not being deliberately directed to be hostile or derisory towards guests, they were there to watch what happened and watch what was said and their responses were a natural reaction of a group of people listening to the same story.

“In this particular episode I think at one point Jeremy does turn to the audience and asks for a straw poll of who believes Mr Dymond.”

Mr Wissun said he was told Mr Kyle was “very receptive” to advice from the aftercare team about whether he needed to adapt or soften his presenting style for particular guests.

He said it was a “very important” part of guest welfare processes that guests were giving “informed consent” to take part and that they “understood the nature of the format and also the style of the presenter”.

– The Samaritans can be contacted on 116123 or email jo@samaritans.org.