Jeremy Kyle defends his treatment of Steve Dymond at inquest into his death

Summary

Jeremy Kyle has given evidence at the inquest of a man who died after filming his TV show
Steve Dymond, 63, from Portsmouth, is believed to have killed himself seven days after filming the Jeremy Kyle Show in May 2019
The inquest is shown clips of the show - which was never aired - in which Kyle tells Dymond he has failed a lie detector test and to tell "the goddamn truth"
But Kyle defends his actions, saying he also encouraged the audience to applaud Dymond, and called him "mate"
"I believed he needed to tell the truth," Kyle tells the inquest
The inquest later heard from the show's nurse, Steph MacDonald, who said she knew of Dymond's history of depression, but not his self-harm
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Live Reporting

Edited by Emily McGarvey and Sue Paz, with Duncan Kennedy, Nikos Papanikolaou and Marcus White at Winchester Coroner's Court

Kyle listed Dymond's alleged lies in show introductionpublished at 14:09 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
The first clip of the programme, shown to the inquest, is Jeremy Kyle's introduction of Dymond.
"She [Jane] says from the day she met Steve this guy has lied about his age, he's lied about being in the Navy, even making up grandkids that he doesn't have," he says.
"She says that she's utterly convinced he's cheating, has checked this... some of his Viagra tablets have gone missing and he didn't use them with her."
Kyle says he wasn't involved in screening guestspublished at 14:01 British Summer Time 5 September
Duncan Kennedy
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Jeremy Kyle tells the court that he wasn’t involved in the screening of guests.
He says every show was a "journey".
Those in the courtroom are now watching clips of the un-broadcast show featuring Steve Dymond.
Rushes from Kyle show to be shown to inquestpublished at 14:00 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
The inquest is about to be shown nine clips from the rushes recorded on the day when Steve Dymond appeared as a guest on The Jeremy Kyle Show.
Kyle takes the standpublished at 13:50 British Summer Time 5 September
Duncan Kennedy
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Jeremy Kyle has taken the stand in the inquest of Steve Dymond.
Kyle is taking questions from Rachel Spearing, counsel to the inquest.
Why was Steve Dymond on the show?published at 13:24 British Summer Time 5 September
As we reported earlier, the inquest is now taking a break, with Jeremy Kyle due to give evidence from 13:45 BST.
While we wait, let's take a look at what led Steve Dymond to filming the show in 2019.
The Jeremy Kyle Show featured members of the public trying to resolve personal disputes - often to do with their partners, friends, or family.
Dymond filmed the show in May 2019. He had been accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee, Jane Callaghan, and wanted a lie detector test to refute her concerns.
ITV's director of content compliance said this morning that Dymond would have first learnt he had failed the test during filming.
The inquest previously heard that Dymond had called ITV between 40 and 50 times in "desperate" attempts to take part in the show.
Dymond's former GP, Amjad Rehman, wrote an open letter, which Dymond requested in order to appear on TV.
Dr Rehman said: "I didn't know what he was doing on the TV show. He said it was to prove something to his fiancee... It was a matter of life or death for him."
Image source, PA Media
Kyle to give evidence after lunchpublished at 12:51 British Summer Time 5 September
Nikos Papanikolaou
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
The court is breaking for lunch. We are expecting Jeremy Kyle to give evidence when we return.
Who is Jeremy Kyle?published at 12:32 British Summer Time 5 September
Image source, PA Media
Image caption,
Kyle arriving at Winchester Coroner's Court this morning
Jeremy Kyle will shortly be giving evidence to the inquest. Kyle was the face behind the ITV talk show that launched in 2005, and he had a number of radio presenting jobs before the start of his TV career.
Kyle worked at various local radio stations including Kent's Invicta FM as well as BRMB radio in Birmingham where he presented ‘Late and Live’ and ‘Jezza’s Jukebox’. He also had stints at Virgin Radio and London’s Capital FM where he hosted a Confessions show.
And ahead of launching himself into broadcasting, Kyle had worked in a range of industries including as an insurance salesman and a recruitment consultant.
In 2011, Kyle tried to take his show to the US but it was cancelled the following year.
As we reported earlier, The Jeremy Kyle Show stopped airing in May 2019 after Steve Dymond’s death.
No sense of crisis when Dymond left studio - ITV bosspublished at 12:07 British Summer Time 5 September
Duncan Kennedy
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
The court is still hearing from Chris Wissun who says a producer spent half an hour with Steve Dymond after the show to “reassure and comfort” him.
He says no one felt a sense of crisis when Dymond left the studio, adding that he production team contacted him the day after the show.
Dymond told researcher he wished he was dead, inquest hearspublished at 11:57 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Steve Dymond was found to be "still crying" in a production room some time after the recording, Wissun tells the inquest.
The court heard a researcher told a producer: "He's just said, 'I wish I was dead'.
"To which I've obviously said how he would be fine. Just a heads up."
Dymond told son he felt he'd been 'cast as the liar'published at 11:52 British Summer Time 5 September
Earlier this week, Dymond's son Carl Woolley told the inquest that his father felt he had been "cast as the liar" on The Jeremy Kyle Show.
He added his father "was very upset saying he was being called a liar, everyone had jumped on him, (he was) not with it at all".
When asked by inquest counsel 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."
He told the inquest his father called him up to six times a day following the recording and was "very down".
Kyle appears focused ahead of evidencepublished at 11:43 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Jeremy Kyle is regularly consulting with the lawyer beside him and they're viewing documents on a laptop together.
He appears to be concentrating intently on the evidence, but sometimes glances around the room at the assembled lawyers and journalists.
He shifts in his seat, sometimes adjusts his tie and maintains a focused expression.
Some experts say lie detector tests only 60% accurate, court hearspublished at 11:39 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Maya Sikand KC suggests that some experts put the accuracy level of the lie detector tests at about 60%.
Wissun is excused from responding by the coroner, Jason Pegg, who says that the former ITV lawyer is not an expert.
Dymond told lie detector tests up to 95% accurate, video showspublished at 11:36 British Summer Time 5 September
Duncan Kennedy
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
More now from Chris Wissun's evidence. He says that before the lie detector results were revealed on the programme that Steve Dymond was part of, he would say that episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show was “high conflict”.
The coroner's court is now talking about the reliability of lie detector tests.
In the video played earlier, a voice off camera explains to Steve Dymond that they are 93%-95% accurate.
The inquest has also heard that Jon Millership - a senior producer for the Jeremy Kyle show - said in a police statement that the polygraph tests were up to 96% accurate.
What was The Jeremy Kyle Show?published at 11:32 British Summer Time 5 September
Image source, BBC / James Stack
ITV axed the Jeremy Kyle Show in May 2019 following the death of Steve Dymond.
The programme was the most popular in ITV's daytime schedule, with an average of one million viewers and a 22% audience share.
More than 3,000 episodes had been broadcast since its debut in 2005.
Lie detectors were a regular fixture on the programme, which often featured disputes between partners and family members.
All previous episodes of The Jeremy Kyle Show have been taken down from the channel's catch-up service, ITVX.
Episodes no longer air on ITV2 either, and the show's YouTube channel has been deleted.
Jeremy Kyle to give evidence laterpublished at 11:27 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Jeremy Kyle is the next witness on the schedule.
Later today, we are due to hear from Steph MacDonald, who was part of the TV show's "aftercare team" and dealt with Dymond.
Chris Wissun has described her as a mental health nurse.
Dymond hoped lie detector test would prove his fidelity, inquest toldpublished at 11:23 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Chris Wissun is asked about Dymond and his partner's motive for applying twice to come on the show - he was initially rejected due to his treatment for depression.
"Clearly they were coming on the show because they had problems in their relationship due to Mr Dymond's lying," Wissun says.
Dymond had acknowledged he had habitually lied to Jane Callaghan in the past, the inquest previously heard.
However, he denied being unfaithful to her and hoped that the lie detector test would prove that, Wissun says.
Not policy to have people with depression take lie detector testpublished at 11:20 British Summer Time 5 September
Duncan Kennedy
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Maya Sikand KC, the lawyer representing Steve Dymond's family, now asks ITV's Chris Wissun whether it was standing policy on the show not to have people who currently had depression and were on medication take a lie detector test.
"Yes," Wissun replies.
'A show not to help people, but to make money?'published at 11:16 British Summer Time 5 September
Duncan Kennedy
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
ITV's Chris Wissun is now being questioned by Maya Sikand KC, lawyer for Steve Dymond’s family.
She asks him if the central purpose of The Jeremy Kyle Show was to put on something "commercially advantageous".
Wissun says that can be said of most ITV programmes.
Sikand replies: "It was not a show to help people, but to make money?"
Wissun agrees, but adds the two are not mutually exclusive.
No aftercare officials on set during Dymond episode - ITV bosspublished at 11:13 British Summer Time 5 September
Nikos Papanikolaou
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
ITV's Chris Wissun says the producer and director of aftercare were not present on set when the episode in which Steve Dymond took part was filmed.
Wissun adds that after the show, there was a welfare check, known as a "corridor check".
He explains that this was nothing more than the care team telling the show's guests - Dymond, in particular - that the aftercare team was present in case it was needed.
Audience not deliberately directed to be hostile, inquest hearspublished at 11:06 British Summer Time 5 September
Marcus White
Reporting from Winchester Coroner's Court
Winchester Coroner's Court has been hearing evidence about what happened during the TV show recording in May 2019.
Former ITV lawyer Chris Wissun is giving evidence about the internal review he conducted for the broadcaster.
He says Steve Dymond was "crying quite a lot, devastated" after the recording, in which it was revealed he had not passed a lie detector test over his fidelity to his partner.
Wissun says the audience was not deliberately directed to be hostile to Dymond, who was protesting his innocence.
However, Wissun acknowledges: "Jeremy Kyle does ask, 'Who believes Mr Dymond?'"
The audience heckled and booed Dymond, the inquest previously heard.