Advertisement

'Jeremy Kyle' guest died of morphine overdose and a heart problem

Jeremy Kyle (Ian West - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Jeremy Kyle (Ian West - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

A man found dead after filming The Jeremy Kyle Show died of a morphine overdose and a heart problem, it has been confirmed.

Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead at his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on May 9, 2019.

The construction worker died shortly after going on the ITV show to take part in a lie detector test to try and prove that he hadn’t been cheating on his fiancee.

Read more: Lie detectors may be banned from TV as Ofcom probes Jeremy Kyle Show

After taping the programme – which never aired - he had said he was worried about the repercussions and subsequent rumours, and Hampshire Police Detective Sergeant Marcus Mills told a previous inquest the death was a suspected suicide.

Speaking via video link at a pre-inquest review on Friday, Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg said the cause of Mr Dymond’s death was a morphine overdose and left ventricular hypertrophy.

The condition means that the left chamber of the heart is not pumping properly.

Pall-bearers carry the coffin of Jeremy Kyle guest Steve Dymond during his funeral at Kingston Cemetery in Portsmouth.
Pall-bearers carry the coffin of Jeremy Kyle guest Steve Dymond during his funeral at Kingston Cemetery in Portsmouth (PA).

The hearing had to be abandoned because of technical difficulties that meant members of the press and public - including Mr Dymond’s former fiancee Jane Callaghan - were unable to hear what was going on.

Saying it was “inappropriate” to continue, Mr Pegg explained: “It is necessary for the pre-inquest review to be heard in public and, when people dialling in cannot hear proceedings in full, it’s not a public hearing.”

The case was adjourned for a further review in October.

The Jeremy Kyle Show was axed following Mr Dymond’s death.

Read more: Caroline Flack's death was unbelievably tragic, says ITV boss

ITV's chief executive Carolyn McCall said at the time that the decision was a result of the "gravity of recent events".

There has been growing scrutiny on the duty of care that reality TV shows have to participants following the deaths of Mr Dymond and Love Island contestants Sophie Gradon and Mike Thalassitis.

Gradon took her own life in 2018, and Thalassitis died by suicide last year.

Media watchdog Ofcom is currently revising and expanding a proposed set of rules to protect the welfare of participants on TV and radio shows.

Additional reporting by PA.